Evening star., 1924-06-15
A Clinic for Curing Bad Habits
BY FREDERIC J. HASKIN

Habit clinics are one of the newest
developments of civilization.
, The irascible individual who car
ries a chip on his shoulder and flies
Unto a rage when that lightly poised
chip is accidentally knocked or may
be slave to q mental habit formed
when he was a small child.
1t seems almost absurd to say that
a woman's jealousy, which makes life
a burden for her husband, her chill
dren and her friends. was established
when she was a child of two years.
But this may be, and often is, the
case, as the habit clinics are demon
strating.
In fact. excessive egotism, disregard
for others, shyness and pugnacity
may all be established as mental
habits when children are so young
that it is difficult for older people to
associate them with complex mental
states at all.
The clinic takes a child who is de-
veloping an undesirable habit and
helps the parents and the child to re-
move the cause. 1t is far easier to
cure the temper tantrums of a child
of six than to teach an adult to con-
troll his trigger-edge temper. 1t is
easier to ward of the first develop
ing signs of temper fits in child of
two than to cure the same child at
six. .-
The habit clinics are a Boston ex-
pc riment- In 1921, one part time
clinic was opened as q branch of the
Community Health Association of
q
located in different sections of the
city. The clinics are a part of Bos-
toms health program. Their work
is done in cooperation with the feed
ing and posture clinics and other
medical organizations. Some cases
these organizations or by the kinder
gartens of the city. Other children
are brought by parents on their own
initiative. In each case the procedure
| is about the same. A social worker
makes a survey Of the chiid's home
the mentality Of the patient. Then a
final personality study is made by
the psychiatrist, and remedies are
prescribed.
A report Of the work has just been
printed by the children's bureau.
who would not eat suitable food are
among those described. Some would
| not eat unless fed by their mothers.
Other children refused spinach, milk
and food especially prescribed by
doctors, but would eat candy, ice
cream and fruit between meals.
| A Chfld's Hunger Strike.
Refusing to eat looks like a baby
ish whim which would soon be out
| grown. But the psychiRtrists at the
clinics give it more importance than
that. A childe two years. old learns
that by not eating he can gain the
| attention and solicitude of the entire
family. He also knows that If he does
not eat at the table he will be offer'
ed food ut all hours by q mother who
in frantic for fear her baby will not
| gain the normal amount in weight
The child develops the nxed idea thai
| he does not like various supstantia
dishes and grows up to be fnickS
| ahout food and inclined to have di.
gestive disturbances. Furthermore
contrariness Of temper Is carried over
! into the child's other activities II ne
he can become the center or atten'
The child of two or three years car
| be cured, the clinic workers say, p3
common sense methods. II no notice
is taken when he refuses to eat suit.
able food at the table. and ii he II
not given anything between meal.
except a glass Of milk, he will soor
learn to eat properly. 1t takes Spar
tan courage, however, for the dis
tracted mother to see her baby g
without enough food for a few day.
while he adjusts himself to the new
unromantic schedule.
| What the clinic calls temper tan
trums constitute another childish
habit that leaves permanent scars OF
the individuals disposition. That The
lighting instinct Is q valuable driv
1 ing force is recognized. but 1t car
work to the advantage of the indi
/ viduaI only IL II is controlled. TIT