Читать книгу The Physical Training of Children - Pye Henry Chavasse - Страница 3

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Nothing is more to be regretted than the fact that the females of this country grow up to womanhood in entire ignorance of all that relates to their future condition as parents, and the physical and mental development of the young for whose welfare they may yet be so deeply responsible. “It is not to be wondered at that when the young wife finds herself a mother, she is kept in a state of painful alarm and apprehension by the most trifling occurrence, or allows real danger to steal on in a state of the most fatal, because unguarded, security.” The alarming mortality of childhood, amounting to nearly half the children born, before the age of five years is reached, leads us to inquire whether it is an unavoidable fatality of our race, and therefore must be patiently submitted to, or is to a great extent the result of ignorance on the part of those to whom the care of the infant man is intrusted?

The perfection of the human frame, and its admirable adaptation to external nature, together with the fact that the preservation or destruction of life in infancy bears a marked and direct relation to the nature of the treatment to which the young being is subjected, solves the question beyond the possibility of a doubt.

The want of success in the management of the infant cannot be charged to neglect on the part of the parent, for “the kindest feelings flow out instinctively towards a helpless offspring.”

“Morning and evening thou hast watched the bee

Go forth on her errand of industry;

The bee for herself hath gathered and toiled,

But the mother’s toils are for her child.”

The sole cause of the difficulty is that the mother has never been instructed,—no pains has been taken to teach her, and she has neglected to inform herself, and now that she finds the life and welfare of her offspring dependent on her care and management, she applies to her friends for assistance and receives advice of so contradictory a nature that she is ready to give up in despair. It is to relieve mothers from this dilemma, which is one frequently observed by the physician, that the author gives the advice and instruction contained in this volume; and most admirably has he succeeded in his very difficult undertaking to write on a subject so little understood as physical education, and make it perfectly clear to the understanding of all.

J. F. P. Richter says of children: “I would create a world specially for myself and suspend it under the mildest sun; a little world where I would have nothing but little lovely children, and these little things I would never suffer to grow up, but only to play eternally. If a seraph were weary of heaven, or his golden pinions drooped, I would send him to dwell a month upon my happy infant world; and no angel, so long as he saw their innocence, could lose his own.”

The arrangement of the book is in the form of questions and answers. This is an excellent idea, the long experience of the author, as a physician, enabling him to suggest many important questions that would escape the inexperienced mother or nurse.

The first chapter treats of the management of the infant from the moment of its birth; and, although the care of the infant is not intrusted to the mother at this time, it is very important that she should know just how it should be managed, and she will then be able to instruct her nurse, and prevent her carrying into execution many of the hobbies of which old nurses are often very fond. The most of them are founded on error, and may be of the greatest injury to the infant at this tender period of its existence. For instance, the author tells us that the infant should be put to the mother’s breast soon after its birth, and should receive food of no other kind. Now there is the strongest desire on the part of many nurses to feed the child with some one of the many preparations used for this purpose as soon as it is dressed, or, at any rate, before the mother’s milk makes its appearance—forgetting that nature has made no mistake in her affairs here, and will not be interfered with without requiring the poor victim to pay the penalty;—and so we find that if the child’s stomach be filled with pap, gruel, or anything of the kind, the result will be acidity, griping, colic, and vomiting, and you will have made a bad beginning by interfering with nature, instead of a good one by leaving her alone. In very many cases the harm is done by trying to assist nature, and, on account of an ignorance of the natural laws, the intended assistance becomes a positive interference; and it is in view of this fact that the author tells us what not to do, as well as what to do; and whenever the mother is in doubt as to her course, she has only to turn to the chapter treating of the subject under consideration, and her mind is at once relieved.

Full instruction is given in regard to the clothing of infants. And nothing is more important; for one would suppose we should find deaths from pulmonary complaints, such as pneumonia and bronchitis, more frequent in adult life,—our occupations being of such a nature as to constantly expose us to the vicissitudes of the weather,—but the opposite is the fact, and the mortality from these diseases is far greater during childhood. The sources from which animal heat is derived, are smallest at birth, and increase till the child is full grown; but, instead of realizing this fact, and protecting the child with sufficient clothing, it is supposed to be comfortable when large portions of the body are entirely uncovered, while the parents find much more clothing requisite for both comfort and health—and the result is that many perish, and others are compelled to go on through life with impaired constitutions, for the condition of the pulmonary organs in after life depends, to a very great extent, on the treatment the person received during the tender period of infancy.

“’Tis the work

Of many a dark hour and of many a prayer

To bring the heart back from an infant gone.”—N. P. Willis.

After a few months the child requires other food than that derived from the mother, and it is of great importance that no mistake be made in the kind of food given the child; for, as we have already seen that the condition of the pulmonary organs of the adult depends to a very great extent upon the clothing of the infant, so will the condition of the digestive organs depend upon the selection of the food for the infant at this period of its existence, and if it be of the proper character all will be well, but if, as is too often the case, the food given be of an indigestible nature, the ground-work of dyspepsia is laid, and it will torment the unfortunate creature as long as he lives. In a great majority of cases children are given table-food far too early, and nothing is more common than to be told by the mother that her child grows “thinner and thinner,” though she is giving it all the meat it will eat. Now, our author shows us that the reason the child does not thrive is because its digestive organs are not far enough advanced to extract the nutriment from food of this kind, but that it irritates, and is a positive injury to the infant. And he then explains the important fact that the child does not thrive on that kind of food that contains the most nutriment itself, but on that which is best adapted to the condition of the digestive organs at the time it is given. And then he tells us what that is, and takes us on from step to step, making all the changes necessary in the diet throughout the entire period of infancy and childhood. He also calls our attention to those articles of food that are indigestible at all times, and gives many important directions in regard to the preparation of the food, time for giving it, and the amount that should be given.

Perhaps no part of the work is more important than the instruction given in regard to the raising of children by hand (as it is called); for here the life of the infant may be said to depend, to a very great extent, upon the treatment it receives from those who have it in charge, and it is for this reason that the author has been very explicit in his instructions. He has, in fact, left nothing to be wished for; he gives the minutest directions as to the kind of food, the mode of preparation, the time for feeding, and the general management of the infant who is so unfortunate as to be deprived of the sustenance nature intended for its support. The wet-nurse comes in, also, for her share of attention, and we are told how to select one, and rules are laid down for her diet, exercise, etc. And it is not a matter of indifference whether these rules are attended to or not; for, on the condition of the health of the nurse will depend the character of her milk, and of course we cannot expect a child to be healthy that receives impure milk from its nurse.

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.

The infant man, like the adult one, is a creature of habit, and, with a little systematic training, it is very easy to form good habits, provided you begin early; but, if you delay until bad habits have been formed, it then becomes an entirely different matter. In the simple operation of getting the child to sleep, the difficulty experienced is generally the result of not beginning with it until bad habits have been formed. It is just as easy for the infant to go to sleep at a regular time every day by being placed quietly in the bed, as it is for it to go to sleep after being patted, trotted, and walked about the room for an hour or two; but, if it is walked to-day, of course it will expect it to-morrow. The ill effects of this kind of treatment, together with the way in which it is to be avoided, the author has plainly given us.

Bathing, if properly conducted, is always agreeable, and of advantage to the child, and mothers often ask how often they should bathe their children, and whether in warm or cold water, and, as even the bathing of the child may be done improperly, directions are given which should always be followed. The child may be bathed too often, or not often enough, or in an improper manner. For instance, it may be seated in a bath-tub with the water half way up the body, and then water splashed up over the shoulders, leaving the chest subjected to the chilling effects of evaporation, and material harm may thereby result.

The amusement of the child very properly comes in for a share of the author’s attention. All parents should realize the importance of making the child’s home cheerful, and should not forget that the happiness of the child has much to do with its health and the development of its mental nature. It is astonishing at how small an expense, with a little contrivance, the gloomy, quiet nursery may be converted into a cheerful, happy one, and a small plot of ground into a full-sized farm in the mind of the infant farmer.

“Oh! happy age, when harmless pleasures please,

Gay as the lark, and fickle as the breeze:

Well may we sigh, in after years of pain,

To think that hour will never come again.

How small the grief that dims the sunny eye—

How light the thoughtless tear—how quickly dry;

A toy, a butterfly, thy smiles renew,

As from the flow’r the sunbeams chase the dew.”

Parents are too apt to overlook these, to them, unimportant little things, and it is for this reason that the author calls attention to it, and shows us that rational amusements not only develop the physical, but exert an immense influence on the intellect of the child.

The views of the author in regard to the education of the child are clearly given. In this country children are sent to school far too young. The mind is overtaxed before the body has had time to develop, and a debilitated constitution is too often the result. It is of little consequence whether a child reads at six years or not until it is ten. First develop the physical, then at the proper time the vigorous intellect will climb the hill of knowledge, leaving far behind the student whose constitution was destroyed by overcrowding the brain during the tender age of childhood.

“The main design of nature in early youth, is not the speedy development of the mind,—for she has designedly, as it were, withheld this agent,—but the development and growth of the body, by means of the nutritive functions so carefully provided for the purpose. All the energies of the constitution are then required for the promotion of this object; and if the brain be then cultivated too assiduously, these energies are abstracted from their legitimate purpose, and physical debility, ending most probably in disease and decay is produced. Does it not thus clearly and manifestly appear, that premature and too exclusive mental cultivation is to thwart nature by interfering with her operations in the careful development of the physical constitution of youth?”

It was the opinion of Rosseau “that the chief art of education in childhood is to lose time; that every delay should be considered an advantage, care being taken not to give that instruction to-day which may be deferred, without danger, till to-morrow.” The same writer says: “The most critical interval of human life is that between the hour of birth and twelve years of age. This is the time wherein vice and error take root, without our being possessed of any instrument to destroy them; and when the implement is found they are so deeply grounded that they are no longer to be eradicated.

“If children took a leap from their mother’s breast and at once arrived at the age of reason, the methods of education now usually taken with them would be very proper; but, according to the progress of nature, they require those which are very different. We should not tamper with the mind till it has acquired all its faculties; for it is impossible it should perceive the light we hold out to it while it is blind, or that it should pursue, over an immense plain of ideas, that route which reason hath so slightly traced as to be perceptible only to the sharpest sight.

“The first part of education, therefore, ought to be purely negative. It consists neither in teaching virtue nor truth, but in guarding the heart from vice and the mind from error.”

“Meantime a smiling offspring rises round,

And mingles both their graces. By degrees,

The human blossom blows; and every day,

Soft as it rolls along, shows some new charm—

The father’s luster, and the mother’s bloom.”

Thomson’s Seasons.

After this brief review, the only conclusion that we can come to is, that everything depends upon a proper system of physical training. Without a systematic development of the physical frame, a healthful and vigorous intellectual condition need not be looked for. The mental and the physical parts of education are as inseparable as the action of the mind from that of the bodily organs—they are created for and adapted to each other, and so sympathize as to form an harmonious whole. Now, if the mothers of the land will give their attention to the subject of Physical Education, the mortality of childhood will decrease, the condition of mankind improve, enjoyment be promoted, and, by enabling all to cultivate the higher faculties and affections, the human family will effect the nearest approach to perfection that it is possible to attain on earth.

F. H. GETCHELL,

1432 Spruce Street, Phila.

October, 1870.