Bismarck weekly tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1884-1943, 1890-07-25
HOW to TRAIN A CHILD.
CAN HAVE HEALTH AND STRENGTH
5Y BREATHING RIGHT.

To Inhalc Correctly Means IN Erect Body
Should BE Straight and the Muscles
soft-Littlc Cnod in Gymnasiums.
Over in brooklyn is u little man with O
gigantic chest and murvelously strong
muscles. H.. is the founder of a new sys.
TEN of physical education. Thirty-two
years ago, when he was wearing his first
knickcrbockers, he was so puny that his
parents thought it was hardly worth while
to encourage him to go on living. Today,
although he is small he is as strong as IL
bulldog and delights in amusing his
friends and astonishing strangers by lying
fiat on his back and lifting up 24O pound
men at arms length. He thinks the Gus
tom of putting young Americans through
a course of calisthenic inc grnnastic OK
ercises is all wrong.
"The present system is wrong from be-
ginningto end" he said to a reporter.
"Pick up a six months old infant" he
added, "hold him in an unstrained upyight
position, and you will find that his back is
broad and flat and that his spine is perfect
ly straight. AS soon as the child begins to
walk the spine begins to curve. Why? The
weight of the abdomen causes the lowe,
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.
EJECT OF CALIsTuENICs.
"4ou will find, too, that an infant il
arms has the power, while sitting bolt up
right, 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. He loses
this tleXibility almost from the moment he
begins to walk. The ordinary system of
athletic or c;illsthcnlc training takes no no.
tice of this loss.
"Now, l claim that above all else u child
should be taught how to stand and how to
breathe. Next he should be instructed as
to the proper way of using crc"y muscle
and joint. Teach him those things and he
will be Il 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 q mere makeshift to
bring forward calisthenics. Only a small
minority of the children in classes for
physical training give any vigor or mean
ing to the few insignificant moveme of
the arms. Most of the boys and almost all
of the girls make merely superficial move
mcnts, with no sense Of the meaning and
no feeling Of eXhilaration. If anything has
been said to the children about breathing
no effect is visible. If anything has been
said about the carriage of the body the in
struction has been confined to an injunc-
ton to keep back the shoulders
POSITION Is EVERYTHING.
"1n a nervous effort to obey the latter in
junction children are often found with hol-
lowed backs and shoulder blades driven i N
against the spine. When the shoulders are
violently and persistcntly thrown back the
shoulder blades almos meet. They press
on the spine and jam the upper part of it
forward. This effect is simply unavoida-
BILE.
"If Il child is sent to school at the age of
) or q the teacher should watch him at his
desk to make sure that he maintains 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. B.
holding tn. body erect and straight the
child will find it easy to breathe in the
costal way-.hat is, with the upper part of
the chest. This l 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 condition that they would find
it easier to stand, walk ind 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 keep them standing
or sitting properly. Folding the arms,
the present attitude of respectful attention.
is one that cramps the chest and the
breathing apparatus. 1t should never he
practiced. Let the teacher instruct her
children to keep the upper point of the
forehead INT the most prominent part of
the chest always uplifted, as if trying to
push up through the ceiling. y word now
and again will soon inculcate the right
sort of carriage. Let all bending forward
be done from the hip jolnt-not from the
waist. The back bone need not and should
not be bent in STOPPING to pick up any
thing.
WE SHOULD ALL LIVE TO BE so.
INSTEAD of wasting time over rods and
wands teachers should make the children
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 he &C.
quires in the carriage and department of
his body will make him agile and strong.
and then his physical education will
amount to something. Physical educa-
ton is properly accomplished only through
the mind.
"The mere requirement of muscular tbs.
sue Is not of SO much Importance as a good
sheath Of sound, healthy, agile bone cover
ing. BY that 1 mean elastic, supple ten
dons and muscles working in harmony, di-
rected by a well regulated mind. That is
what children need.
"The shoulders should not be strained
back of the hip joint. These two joints
should be On the same perpendicular line,
TIL chest must have prominence on its
own account, and the shoulders when held
back far enough to give the chest free de-
velopment inc a natural and comfortable
center.
II am no believer in the theory of extern
sive destruction in tissues and hurried re-
building Of them to secure health. Such
training is abnormal. The cat, the horse,