Читать книгу The Care of Children - Sebastian Kneipp Kneipp - Страница 11

The Dress of very little Children.

The Creator clothes the creatures both for summer and winter, but He has endowed man with reason and understanding, by means of which he can choose for himself suitable clothing, as a protection against the heat of summer and the cold of winter.

Little children need clothing, and Mothers should take care above all things that their clothing be light, sufficient only to keep them from injury by the weather.

In dressing them care must be taken also to permit the air to come in contact with the whole system; in this way health is established; where this is not cared for languor and decay set in.

Another care should be that the dress is not too tight anywhere about the body, so that there be no obstacle in the way of the child's physical development.

In my youth, children were accustomed to wear a little handkerchief round the forehead and head; hence it came that later on a small depression showed itself in the foreheads of many grown up persons just above the eyes.

A celebrated old country Doctor who had a wide spread practice once said to me (alluding to the custom above noticed) "What a mistake it is to bind a cloth like that round childrens' foreheads; it causes invariably a depression on the forehead and with it a weak intellect because by this bandage the development of the brain is hindered."

What can be clearer than this remark?

The skull of a child is as soft as wax and just as easily compressed, consequently the same thing happens to the forehead as to a girl's body when she has adopted the fashion of tight lacing; the organs pressed are hindered in their development.

The Creator Himself has provided the head with the best sort of cap viz. the hair. Never put on the child's head a cap that tits too closely for it has the disadvantage of preventing the air playing on the skin of the head and thus assisting perspiration.

It is on account of the cap that so many children are subject to a bad scurfy eruption on the head which is hard to cure because the matter flowing out of it spreads and eats into the skin like poison. I say therefore no head gear for children. Take no thought for that which the Creator Himself has provided but carefully consider those matters which He has left in the hands of you Mothers and Teachers!

The child's dress should be porous so that the air can penetrate it and also give out to the air whatever the system ejects.

Nothing should really be worn on the body but linen because this of all our flax is the freest from disease-producing-materials, and for this reason, in linen tissue sufficient pores exist, and in its dry state it absorbs also certain evaporations of the body which easily dry and drop off like little scales.

The first little shirt worn by Baby should not be too fine, the rougher sort of linen educates the tender skin to bear bracing.

The perspiration generally remains some time on the upper surface of the skin, and too fine a linen, which does not absorb readily, would cause the perspiration to stop short in the pores, dry and form a crust on the skin so that perspiration being prevented, the bad matter would be all pressed inwards and develop some illness.

It is a grave mistake if the child's body is tightly compressed, for it is impossible for it to develop under such a circumstance. Besides closely fitting garments prevent or even stop evaporation.

This is why it is so necessary for children to wear loose porous dresses; if the body can perspire freely and the air get to the skin the well-being of the child is secured.

Here I must express great disapprobation of the swathing band, often many yards long, the use of which is still prevalent in many districts and which to say the least is a useless torment to the babe.

In expressing my opinion that it is needful to expose the head as much as possible to the fresh air, the covering being already provided by the Creator rendering other head-gear unnecessary, I must not forget another duty, that towards the feet. As the head is meant to be exposed to the open air, so is it the task of the feet to come in contact with the earth.

If the education of the feet is lacking and they are once spoilt it will require some trouble to bring them into order, therefore the care of the feet must be begun in childhood.

Fresh water and air are bracing remedies for the feet even as they are for the whole body.

It is quite incorrect to make little babies in their bassinettes wear woolen shoes or socks on their feet. Mothers, who thus act, show their ignorance of the fact that their children require bracing and not weakening. The children should, as much as possible, be bare-foot whether in the room or in the open air. Air braces the skin; fresh air draws the blood in equable quantities to the upper surface. The feet especially should be braced by the air and rendered elastic and capable of resistance.

My neighbor has a girl who, when she was scarcely able to walk properly, went into the open air as many times a day as she could make her escape from the living room, and plainly showed her great joy when she could stamp about in the snow, and when she was caught up and brought in, she screamed with all her might because her joy was put an end to.

Before this child was three years old. it was found wandering in the snow perfectly happy without any head gear and with only a little smock frock on; she was brought back by her Mother and punished.

I saw this accidentally and observed to the Mother that running about in the snow did no harm.

The Mother heeded my words and the child was allowed her liberty and she has grown up into a strong healthy child.

I beg of you Mothers to allow no weakening of the feet, for if you do, the feet will diminish in strength and the blood will be unequally divided in the lower members, and all for lack of fresh air and cold water.

Weakness may set in in early years from which the child will suffer all its life long. It is inconceivable how much children gain by strengthening and bracing and how much they lose by the opposite course of weakening.

Now one word on the cleanliness of dress and linen. So much depends on the care of the skin that it is an important duty to keep it clean. A special means towards this is clean linen. Therefore, Mothers turn your attention in this direction.

By wearing dirty linen the health of the child may be fundamentally injured.

Many diseases arise from uncleanliness while others are generated through the wash.

These facts should impress upon Mothers the necessity of clean linen for their children. In changing it however be very particular that the linen is well dried, and here I would remark that it should not be dried in the room where the child lives, neither should the linen be ironed in the nursery, especially must this be avoided when the irons are heated on charcoal stoves. Before closing this chapter on "cleanliness" I would like to observe that impure water should be removed from the nursery; to dry wet clothes in the nursery may be convenient but it is highly disgusting and very unhealthy. It is needful also that the nursery should be kept free of dust which, if breathed into the lungs, is very bad for the children and often produces lung disease.