The Bloomfield times. [volume] (New Bloomfield, Pa.) 1867-187?, 1874-01-06
Food for Children.

When q child has no appetite for plain,
wholesome food, something is wrong in the
brain of the mother. Why, look at the
facts of the case. For the six or eight
years of child's life it does nothing but
sleep, eat, play and grow. The very law
Of growth and assimilation gives it sharp
craving for ailment, and the craving is fed
by sound sleep and constant activity un-
less its digestive organs have been tamper-
ed with by weak and iniudcous hands,
there will nothing all its appetite Just
here is the difficulty. To secure brief
respite candy or cake pastry is put into the
hands of the baby, until it cries for it, and
will be satisfied with nothing else. 1t may
be that the foundation of this longing for
sweets has been laid in infancy by mix
ing that abomination, soothing sirup, with
the babys milk as it is sometimes done
by Ignorant mothers, so that the child's
digestive organs have been bewitched from
its earliest infancy, and it never knew the
bit of normal hunger, or the satisfaction of
a good square meal" One can tell such
children by glance at the teeth, ,,as quick
as jocky can tell the age of horse by its
teeth. A shining row of unstained pearls
in juvenile mouth is quick witness of
wholesome and regular food, of sound and
easy digestion, and every child ought to
have just such an ivory mill.
The growing food is milk this, with
vegetables, fruit, bread, and much of the
various grains, should constitute the prin-
cipal portion of n child's nutriment. MANY
parents, we think unwisely, allow their
children abundance of meat. This makes
the child restless and inpatient of control
1t has, in fact, the same effect on children
that corn has on young animals. 1t makes
them chafe to and fro within their narrow
bounds, just as bears and tigers do in their
iron cages. Graminivorous animals, the
horse the COW, the sheep, are mild and do
cile, while the carnivora are fierce, agile
and lean. Children who live on bread and
milk and vegetables WILL as a general rule,
be more amiable, more obedient, and fuller
in flesh than those who eat large quanti-
ties of meat. Regularity in feeding chill
uren is OF great Importance. A child may
form a habit of eating six or eight times a
day, or it may learn to satisfy its appetite
at three regular meals. If these, however,
are more than five hours apart there should
be slight lunch between-long enough be-
fore the succeeding meal not to take the
edge from the appetite. Sitting up late at
night, undue excitement, and activity just
before retiring, Will get almost any child
into nervous condition, and thus create
morbid state of the body which will cause
the appetite to crave unwholesome food
Early to bed, is safe rule for everybody,
especially for the young, and if they waken
early, very well but by all means let them
have their sleep out. Very rapid growing
and nervous children require more food
than those who attain their growth slowly
and Emphatic in their temperament. 1t
seems to us almost cruel to waken q grow
ing child out of sound sleep. AS many
parents depend on the services their chill
dren are able to render if the boys and
girls must be up early in the morning,
they should be compelled to retire betimes.
One reason why children clamor for cake
and pie 80 much is doubtless because the
bread to which they are accustomed is so
poor. 1t is tasteless, or sour, or stale, or
heavy, or something beside sweet, light,
and appetizing. We are sorry to believe
that in the majority of families the bread
is, as a rule, inferior in quality, and often
positively bad. Those mothers who will
have on their tables the best of bread will
bear testimony that their children do not
clamOr for cake or dainties. We may profit
by the example of royalty. The little
princes and princesses Of England and Ger
many, according to report, do not have
cake, or pie, or sweetmeats, or confection-
cry, except now and then, and in very
small quantities They have abundance of
plain, substantial food, not much meat,
plenty Of fruit and vegetables, and it is a
notable fact that not young child has died
in either of these royal families, nor has
there ever been a severe illness in either of
the royal nurseries. The secret Of this
lies in the fact that the children are raised
in strict obedience TO the laws of life and
health. They are not pampered with lux
iries, nor enfeebled by Indulgence, and, as
anatural consequence, they are healthfu
and happy Exchange.