Morris tribune., 1883-02-01
Children'a Diet.

A writer in Casselrs Magazine makes
the following sensible suggestion con-
corning the diet of children:
The diet Of children can hardly be too
plain. If they require to be encouraged
to eat by the administration of dainties,
there must be something radically wrong
somewhere. 1t il unlikely that that
something is constitut ional, more prob
ably insufficient exercise is taken, or the
bedroom badly ventilated, or the par
ents have forgotten that sunshine and
fresh air are as necessary to the healthy
life of n chilClas wholesonefood itself IS.
The cant Of cleanliness, of frequent
use CT the bath, is many times the cause
of indifferent appetites in children.
Without cleanliness of clothes and clean
linessofperson you cannot have healthy
children. Without this the young
blood seems poisoned. the child has
neither buoyancy nor heart, appetite is
depraved or absent, and he grows up as
poor and pale as a sickly plant. Inju-
dicious clothing is another cause of dys-
pepsia. 1t Is bad enough to encase the
body which has attained its full devel-
opment in a tight dress, but it is ruin
Gus for child to be clothed in tightly
fitting garments. Every organ of u
child's body requires room to expand;
II 1t be In any way compressed the circu-
iation through it becomes lessened, and
it is therefore sicklied and rendered
weak. 1ightness, therefore, of any por-
ton OF child's clothing ruins not only the
organ directly underneath the construc-
ton, but indirectly those at distance
from it, for no damming up of the circu-
latlon can be tolerated by nature. Tight
ness round the waist in children and
young people is the cause of many cases
of dyspepsia, and in lesser degree so
is tightness of the neckerchief, by re-
tanning the blood in the brain. Have
your children's clothing loose, then, if
See, too, that at night they sleep not on
feather beds, and that though warmly
they are not heavily clothed. Children
ought to be fed with great regularity day
by day. The parents, having chosen
the hour for dinner. breakfast, and tea
ought to SEQ that the times are strictly
adhered to. .......r..
pa Irregularity in meal hours and time of
getting up in the morning and retiring
to led at night is, not only prejudicial to
the present health of a child, but it
teaches him habits which are greatly
against his chances of success in after
life. Ineed hardly speak here about the
quality of the food that is placed before
a child; against indigestible or too rich
food against sauces and spices of all
kinds, including curries; against heavy
foods cfthe pancake, dough and dumping
kind; against unripe fruits, against
too hot soup, against strong tea and
coffee or beer, or against over
much butchers meat. Pray, mothers,
do not forget that an interval of rest
should ensue between the meals you give
your children, and do not ruin their
young digestions by examining them with
cake, or buns, or sweets of any kind.
TO do so is worse than cruel, it is a sin,
and sin which you are!but little likely to
commit.if. you truly love them and really
wish to see them generate into strong
and healthy men and women.
Tarts and sweets and confectionery
would be bad enough in all conscience
for children. even if they were, always
pure and unadulterated. But they are
plain and wholesome food regularly from
day to day. permitting no stuffing be-
tween meals, and not forgetting the ben
efits that accrue from frequent chances
of diet, more especially as regards dim
her. Do this and your children will live
to bless you; do otherwise, and expect to
see them sickly with veins and arteries
possessing no resistency, with mucous
membranes pale and fabby, pipes of
lungs that the accident of slight cold is
sufficient TO close, muscles of limbs SO
week that exercise is q penance instead
of a pleasure, and flesh sounwholesome
that pins prick may cause tester, and
all this because the blood is impoverished
through errors in diet.