The Physical Training of ChildrenChavasse, Pye Henry
Science
The Physical Training of Children
Chavasse, Pye Henry
Child care; Children -- Health and hygiene
Let me strongly urge you to be particular that the sock or stocking fits
nicely—that it is neither too small nor too large; if it be too small,
it binds up the toes unmercifully, and makes one toe to ride over the
other, and thus renders the toes perfectly useless in walking; if it be
too large, it is necessary to lap a portion of the sock or stocking
either under or over the toes, which thus presses unduly upon them, and
gives pain and annoyance. It should be borne in mind that if the toes
have full play, they, as it were, grasp the ground, and greatly assist
in locomotion—which, of course, if they are cramped up, they cannot
possibly do. Be careful, too, that the toe-part of the sock or stocking
be not pointed; let it be made square, in order to give room to the
toes. “At this helpless period of life the delicately feeble,
outspreading toes, are wedged into a narrow-toed stocking, often so
short as to double in the toes, diminishing the length of the
rapidly-growing foot! It is next, perhaps, tightly laced into a boot of
less interior dimensions than itself; when the poor little creature is
left to sprawl about with a limping, stumping gait, thus learning to
walk as it best can, under circumstances the most cruel and torturing
imaginable.”
It is impossible for either a stocking or a shoe to fit nicely, unless
the toe-nails be kept in proper order. Now, in cutting the toe-nails
there is, as in everything else, a right and a wrong way. The _right_
way of cutting a toe-nail is to cut it straight—in a straight line. The
_wrong_ way is to cut the corners of the nail—to round the nail, as it
is called. This cutting the corners of the nails often makes work for
the surgeon, as I myself can testify; it frequently produces
“growing-in” of the nail, which sometimes necessitates the removal of
either the nail or of a portion of it.
133. _At what time of the year should a child leave off his winter
clothing?_
A mother ought not to leave off her children’s winter clothing until the
spring be far advanced; it is far better to be on the safe side, and to
allow the winter clothes to be worn until the end of May. The old adage
is very good, and should be borne in mind:
“Button to chin
Till May be in;
Ne’er cast a clout
Till May be out.”
134. _Have you any general remarks to make on the present fashion of
dressing children?_
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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