Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1917-08-16
SERVICE

When the soldiers and sailors return
from the war, the families entrusted to
the care of the Red Cross should be
found to have maintained, as far as it
IS humanity possible, the essential
standards of home life. It should be
the object of the Home Service Sec
ton of each Chapter, when help is
needed, to safeguard the normal de-
velopment of these families in health.
in education. in employment, and in
ideals of self-help and self reliance.
This means that to the home that has
mad little or no opportunity for self
advancement such opportunity must
be offered and, moreover, that in a
time when living is more difficult for
everyone, no pressure of circum-
stances or stress Of temptation must
be allowed to overcome the home into
which the Red Cross visitor has been
called
This work for the welfare of a home
will demand more than a grant of
money or temporary reference to a
doctor. lawyer. or some other ad-
wiser. 1t will frequently require a
long continued acquaintance with the
family. sympathetic understanding,
an appreciation of it's ideals, its ability
to attain them, the obstacles in the
way, and the application of a practical
common sense psychology in stimulat-
ing and encouraging the family to sur
mount its difficulties and achieve sue
cess.
Tiding over some merely temporary
difficulty caused by delay in receiving
remittances and the like WILL to be
sure, be an important part of the work
of the Home Service Section. It's
chief effort however, will be absorbed
by the task of child care and or main
tanning physical and mental health and
proper working conditions for the
families visited. This, Furthermore,
implies efforts to safeguard the STAN
dards of the community. es already
established with such toll in the fields
OF health. industry. and education.
Standards Of Child Care
A representative of the national
Children's Bureau says that the chief
measure for protecting babies is to
insure their care and nursing by
healthy mothers in their own homes.
Helping mothers to remain at home
most ofAhe time while the children are
small is a health measure for both
mother and child, though woman's
temperament and her standard Of
home care before the enlistment of the
hreadwinner should be taken into con-
sideration.
The absence of the man deprives the
family of the interest which he brings
home with him from the world OF
trade and industry. This lack and the
less of companionship must. so far as
possible be replaced. ut is not mere
~ the work I have to do" said a wo-
man whose husband had died, sit is
not merely that I have to be RESPONSE
BILE alone for the care Of the children.
but there is nobody who comes home
at night" Various forms of recrea-
ton, clubs, and classes become, there
fore, the more important for the chill
dren, as we'll as the mother.
Faithful school attendance can be
assured by arranging when necessary,
for regular reports from teachers.
When the age for leaving school ap
proaches-in fact, long before it has
arrived-the best vocational guidance
obtainable should be sought. Do
everything to discourage entrance into
occupations in which there is no fu-
ture, no skill to be acquired, no good
chance of advancement, or in which
the processes menace health
Problems Of boys and girls IN their
early teens-in the years of Adde'S
cence-may require the wisest ADVICE