Evening star., 1897-03-13
TRAINING AND DISCIPLINE.
Necessary Elements I'm the Physical
Development of N Child.

Necessary Elements in the Physical
Development of a Child.
From Harper's Bazar
After a child is a year old the mea asures
to be adopted for the prevention OF dis
ease and the preservation of uniformly
good health can no longer be given in sim
pie and universal rules. A young infant
is an unreasoning animal. and with it the
physical conditions alone need TO be con-
sfdered. Its food is simple and simply ad-
ministered; and beyond the general desire
for physical comfort and satisfaction. it
expresses no preferences and conveys no
criticism of our methods
But after it is a year old child begins
the differentiation toward a more comoli-
Gated existence. After that age a child is
no longer an animated stomach. Il has al
ready found its hands and learned that
they can clutch and grasp; it has discov-
cred its feet, and as fast learning the art
of locomotion: ii has become an ant pupil
In the lesson of language, that instrument
of all Intellectual progress 1t has formu-
lated the ego; and after the knowledge
that Il am is orCe defined IL soon con-
ceives the second lesson OF Il want"
Within a short time the Il want" is follow
ed by an / ought and with this last
conceptit n the triple development of the
physical, mental and moral natures pro-
gress. Nor in any consideration of child
hood from whatever standpoint. can these
three simultaneous and interdependent
lines of development be separately con-
sidercd. If discuss intellectual educa-
tion, We find its success ever dependent
upon the physical condition, and incapable
Of the highest attainment except in the
presence of normal moral sense If we
consider mora, development, we find IL in
extricably complicated with that of the in
tellectual and physical natures.
So in considering, as We at present aim to
do, the measures that must be taken dur
ing childhood for the preservation of the
best heath and the practical elimination
Of infantile diseases, We find IL impossible
to consider the physical alone, but, even
at the risk of seeming superficial, must
touch, at least in many points. upon the
mental ard moral training of the child. Its
physical health is always dependent upon
proper mental and moral training. Every
physician, for instance, encounters in his
practice among children cases of Illness
which terminate fatally simply because
the child is SO willful and undisciplined
that his struggles against the prescribed
and necessary course of reatment turn to
the fatal issue the evenly balanced scales
in which are weighed the alternatives of
life and death. So the chronic habit of dis
obedience or deceit on the part of the child
may neutraliZe the parents best efforts
for its physical Improvement. And fretful-
ness. generally a result of disease, is not
infrequently, when IL becomes fixed
habit, also one of the causes of illness, or
at least of chronic i'll health. Any discus
sion, therefore, which deals solely with
the physical precautions for the prevention
OF disease must be absolutely Inadequate.
to touch upon mental education and moral
training, at least as far they are in
volved in home discipline and upon amuse-
ments.