The Physical Training of ChildrenChavasse, Pye Henry
Science
The Physical Training of Children
Chavasse, Pye Henry
Child care; Children -- Health and hygiene
Very important instruction is given for our guidance in the management
of the child when sick. Everything relating to the sick-room is fully
discussed, and the most minute directions given for the assistance of
the mother at this critical period of the child’s existence.
Considerable space is taken with prescriptions and the administration of
medicine, which is of much value to those not within the reach of the
family physician. But if the child is sick the physician should always
be notified at once, if it be possible, for much depends upon the early
treatment of the disease; and in no case should the limited knowledge of
the mother be substituted for that of the experienced physician. It must
be remembered that this book is not intended exclusively for those who
are always within the reach of a physician, but it is also for the
guidance and assistance of whose who are far from, or unable to obtain,
medical advice, and to those located on the frontier, and at the
missionary stations, this part of the work has proved to be of the
greatest advantage.
Sound advice is given in regard to dosing children with many quack
cordials, carminatives, and syrups, that fill the shops, all of which
are advertised to contain no opium, and yet the busy practitioner hardly
passes a month without being called to attend a child dangerously
narcotized by some one of these preparations.
It is to induce sleep that these preparations are given, the mother not
being aware that if an anodyne be used to-day, a larger dose will be
required to-morrow to produce the same effect, and also that by its
interference with digestion the habitual use of narcotics always injures
the health of the child. For these reasons laudanum, paregoric, or any
preparations containing opium in any form, should never be given to the
infant, unless under the control of a physician.
The management of the nursery is not overlooked, and very judicious
rules for selecting, warming, and ventilating the apartment are given.
As the child advances, the teeth begin to make their appearance, and
this is always a source of more or less irritation; but, by a little
care at this time, the child passes through it with little discomfort,
and serious consequences are avoided. The importance of proper
regulation of the diet, and the soothing effect of fresh air upon the
irritated nervous system at this time, cannot be over-estimated.
The modes of exercising the child are explained, and as the development
of the muscular system depends to so great an extent on judicious
exercise, no mother should fail to become acquainted with the
instruction given on this subject.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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