The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1922-03-29

When, requested to contribute to
School and Home, a paper on some
subject bearing a direct relation to
child health and outlining, if posi-
BILE, some common ground on which
the parent and teacher might work
with the physician for the good Of
the child, I could think of nothing
which would more nearly meet this
requirement than the general sub
|ject of discipline.
I find that the word has a varied
definition covering the broad area
comprised by mental and moral
training" ,'education," "subject to
CONTROL" military regulation"
"chastisement," REGULATE" military
regulation" and the like, but the lex
icographer seems to omit the vital OBJ
ject which discipline should have in
the forming of personal habits. When
we consider how great a factor is
habit in the preservation Of health,
and when we admit that all habits,
good and bad, may be best formed
in early childhood, we will readily
understand the actual and potential
value of discipline as an aid to health
not only in the child but in the adult
as well.
This brings me to a thought which
may seem a>digression from my sub
ject but which is, nevertheless close
ly related to it refer to the self
discipline which every mother should
exercise over herself and her habits
before her children come into this
world, and which the environment Of
every home should furnish in fullest
measure. If this form of discipline
does not exist there is every chance
that children born under these un-
favorable circumstances may be born
both physically and mentally handi-
capped.
AS a physician it has often been
my lot to visit homes where the do
mestic machinery did not run smooth
ly; where husband and wife were not
in harmony or where some one of
the many disturbing elements were
permitted to disrupt domestic peace.
Such conditions have a very direct
bearing on the health of the prospec-
tive mother at a time when she needs
all possible help in keeping her ner-
vous forces at the highest point Of
efficiency in order that the unborn
id may have an unimpaired blood
supply so necessary in producing a
normal human being. Any violation
of physical laws on the part of the
mother has an influence on the child
and unless the prospective mother
accepts the discipline of her physi-
clan and obeys the physical laws laid
down for her, she need not expect
to have a normal child, and for this
reason I say proper discipline must
begin for the child even before it
sees the light of day.
When the little one is finally laid
in the mothers arms discipline of it's
habits. should begin almost at once
and the mother and nurse are direct
ly responsible for the forming Of
good or bad habits in the plastic in
FAINT just as surely as the mother and.
the teacher are responsible for the
forming of similar habits in the older
child.
In the child of pre-school age as
in the infant, and l may say all
through the period of adolescence
the Importance of discipline is felt,
first instinctively in Natures obedi-
ence to we'll formed habits and later
voluntarily in the ch;ld's personal
obedience to parental regulations.
In early childhood many unhappy
and actually hurtful habits may we'll
be controlled by judicious and kindly
discipline; eating at proper intervals;
preventing constipation, avoiding
thumb-sucking, assuring adequate
sleep are all habits which may be
formed by the parent for the child,
and it is a very wholesome truth in
child rearing as in agriculture that
"as we sow so shall we reap" and in