Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1890-06-28
HOW TO TRAIN CHILDREN.
BY BREITIIING RIGHT HE CAN
NAVE HE4LTH AND STRENGTH.

>
education in Brooklyn, n. Y, has some
new ideas which he has given to the
public in regard to the physical training
of children.
"The present system is wrong from be-
ginning to end, ~" he said to a reporter.
Pick up 6 months old infant" he
added hold him in an unstrained up
right position, and you will find that his
| back is broad and flat and that his spine
is perfectly straight As soon as the
| child begins to walk the spine begins to
curve. Why? The weight of his alb
! domen causes the lower part of his back
the hollow of his back, so called-to
sink forward and sag down. There is
error number one. Subsequent physical
training takes no notice of it.
You will find, too, that an infant in
arms has the power, while sitting bolt
upright, of putting his foot, or at least a
part of it, in his mouth This is because
his hip joint is perfectly free and flexible
moment he begins to walk. The ordinary
system of athletic or calisthenic training
takes no notice of this loss.
Nov, | claim that above all else a
child should be taught how to stand and
how to breathe. Next he should be in
structed as to the proper way Of using
every muscle and joint. Teach him
those things and he will be a graceful
healthy strong man. Neglect them and
while he may become temporarily strong
his power is neither lasting nor conducive
to long life and vigor.
Nothing is more important than to
teach children the general principles of
right development. 1t is a mere make
shift to bring forward calisthenics. Only
small minority of the children in classes
for physical training give any vigor or
meaning to the few insignificant move
ments of the arms. Most of the boys
and almost all of the girls make merely
| superficial movements, with no sense of
the meaning and no feeling of exhilera
ton. If anything has been said to the
children about breathing no effect is Wis
ible If anything has been said about
the carriage of the body the instruction
has been confined to an injunction to
keep back the shoulders.
In nervous effort to obey the latter
injunction children are often found with
followed backs and shoulder blades
driven in against the spine. When the
shoulders are violently and persistently
thrown back the shoulder blades almost
meet. They press on the spine and jam
the upper part of it forward. This effect
is simply unavoidable.
eff child is sent to school at the age
of ) or 6 the teacher should watch him
at his desk to make sure that he main
tains an erect position. 1t will be found
that if the head is kept properly held
erect the chin is bound to draw up the
breast bone. By holding the body erect
and straight the child will find it easy to
breathe in the costal way-that is, with
the upper part of the chest. This, | claim,
is the proper way to breathe. OF course
it is not easy to learn all this at once, but
a careful teacher, by taking pains, could
soon bring her class into such a cOndi-
ton that they would find it easier to
stand, walk, and sit right than wrong.
1T is not necessary to spend any special
half hour a day in teaching these things.
The instructor who is with children all
the time is the one to keepthem standing
or sitting properly. Folding the arms,
the present attitude of respectful atten-
ton, is one that cramps the chest and
the breathing apparatus. 1t should never
be practiced. Let the teacher instruct
her children to keep the upper point of
the forehead and the most prominent
part of the chest always uplifted, as if
trying to push up through the ceiling.
A word now and again will soon incul-
cate the right sort of carriage. Let all
bending forward be done from the hip
joint-not from the waist. The backbone
need not and should not be bent in stoop-
ing to pick up anything.
"Instead of wasting time over rods and
wands, teachers should make the chill
dren learn how to hold their bodies and
how to move the shoulders, hips, and
other joints properly in the ordinary
business of life. Children can get little
good from what they learn mechanically.
The youngsters interest must be aroused.
Teach him that not dumbbells, but the
knowledge no acquires in the carriage
and department of his body, will make
him agile and strong, and then his physi-
cal education will amount to something.
Physical education is properly accom-
plished only through the mind.
"The mere requirement of muscular
tissue is not of so much importance as a
good sheath of sound healthy agile bone
covering. By that | mean elastic supple
tendons and muscles working in har-
mony, directed by a well regulated mind.
This is what children need. The Shout
ders should not be strained back of the hip
Joint. These two joints should be on the
same perpendicular line The chest
must have prominence on its own ac-
count, and the shoulders when held back
far enough to give the chest free devel-
opment find natural and comfortable
center am no believer in the theory
of extensive destruction in tissues and
hurried rebuilding of them to secure
health Such training is abnormal. The
cat, the horse, dog, tiger, and other lower
animals keep their strength for the most
part with light exercise. The tendency
of hard exercise is hard muscles, and
hard muscles are bad. 1t is in the con-
servation of energy, and not in the prod
igal dissipation of energy, that the great
est strength and endurance of the body
will always lie. Our bodies should re-
main firm but plant, and in most parts
soft. There is no reason why any of us
should become inactive before our S0th
birthday.
THE BRIDES THOUGHT.