Gilpin observer., 1917-04-26
Mothers Duty to Protect Child
from All Preventable Diseases
Prepared B, Children. Bureau. U. s. D.p.an... q L.be.

There are about 100000 children
In this country under five years Of age,
according to the United States census
of 1910. This means that the principal
business of many millions of grown
people is the providing Of the neces-
stiles of life for this army Of children,
all of whom are absolutely dependent
upon their elders for the materials Of
growth, for shelter, warmth, and what
ever else they need. To feed, to clothe,
to warm, to house, protect and care
for this multitude Of the "citizens of
tomorrow" is gigantic task, and the
devotion and self-sacrifice it implies
can never be stated nor measured.
1t is, however, service which
brings its own reward, and especially
when children proceed from healthy
babyhood into happy childhood, and
on through youth into u normal matur-
ity.
The leading medical writer's are in
sfsting that many of the Illnesses,
weaknesses, and deficiencies which
impose so heavy n burden upon the
human race have their root in trou-
bles of this early period Of life, in the
lack of persistent and painstaking at
tention to the signs of disorders when
they appear, to lack Of proper food for
the development of strong bodies, or to
the attacks of preventable disease,
leading to various deformities, weak
nesses, defects or chronic illnesses in
older persons.
1t is of the greatest Importance to
the rearing Of a race Of healthy and
happy men and women that parents
shall come to realize that it is upon
the foundations which are laid in the
early weeks, months, and years of
childhood that the superstructure Of
solid adult health rests.
Parents must, therefore, strive not
only to provide children with the plain
necessities for comfortable living, but
also to surround them with constant
Intelligent care and oversight, task
which parents oftentimes find much
harder.
'If we had only known what to do"
is the despairing cry Of saddened
mothers the world over. One of the
hopeful signs Of this present time is
the growing recognition Of the fact
that child-care is a subject worthy of
the highest and most persistent study.
Another is the constant multiplication
of the sources of information which
are available to parents, in books and
magazines, by public lectures, and by
nurses and doctors.
One of the most pernicious of the
older ideas regarding sickness was the
fatalistic assumption that certain dis
eases must be had by every one, and
therefore children might as well have
them early and be done with it. This
idea has led many mothers deliberate
ly to expose their young children to
such diseases as chickenpox, measles,
whooping cough and the like, and has
had many deplorable results, not the
least of which is the indefinite spread
and prolongation of the common con-
tagious diseases. There are few COM
munities, If any, in which one or an
other of these diseases is not constant
ly appearing, and probably none where
they have disappeared entirely.
1t must be remembered that serious
and prolonged illness is always a detri-
ment to children. Growth is the great
business of childhood, and normal
healthy growth should proceed in or
derly fashion, day by day, without
cessation. But If child must give a
few days or few weeks now and then
to an illness, in the course of which
he suffers from fever, pain, or a de-
bilitating cough, or an irritation of
the skin, or sore and swollen throat,
or an aching ear, 1t may be, normal
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