The Waterbury Democrat., 1931-08-19
YOUR
 CHILDREN
By Olive Roberts Barton DIesI eY NEA SERVICE INC.

Anything that teaches co-ordina- ton of eye and muscles or ear and muscles is excellent. It is amazing. really, the number of adults there are in the world who move awkwardly and slowly upon outside impulse. This is because they were not taught response when they were little.
 When daily dozen" exercises were popular on the radio, I heard a number of persons say they were difficult to keep up to because the commands were given too rapidly. The orders were all right but the trouble was with their own abil- ity to respond on time. It should atke only small fraction of a second for a suggestion to reach the mind and for the mind in turn to issue a command to the arms, legs, neck or body muscles. This receiving a message and in turn relaying it to certain parts of the body is called coordination.
 Teach Muscle Control
 In teaching little children to be alert the first step Is to see that they have perfect control over certain muscles. The hands and the mind, for instance, work al- most inseparably. Every effort should be made, therefore, to teach them facility of finger motion, For example, sewing develops finger control enormously. Little girls used to sew more than they do now in this ready-rnade age. It Is almost lost art.
 Children always initiate their mothers-when mothers sewed littl egirls sewed. Now mothers buy most things made up, and doll clothes come custom made too. A mother may say, "Why should my daughter sew-sheIl never need to know how" Leav- ing all sentiment out of 1t, there are many reasons why she should, the most important being this one of coordination. The eye re- ceives an impulse-this seam should be sewed thus, the mind | gets 1t and sends it down to the hands.
 Watch a child sew her first awkward little patch. She can- not hold either the cloth or the needle. Watch the same child a few months later do practically the same job, and if her interest has bene kept up by clever imag- ming on the part of her mother, she will do 1t in an entirely diff ferent manner. Her fingers have become mind-wise.
 | Practice Is Essential
 But if the intervening months have meant nothing and she has not picked up her work again there will be no improvement. It Is a case where practice makes perfect. If sh enever sews at all there will never come the magic day when she can.
 I just speak of sewing as an example but any type or handi- craft for little boys or girls will bring about the same results, get ting an impression and then put ting the fingers quickly and deft- ly to work. Response to quick verbal orders comes next.
 | If it were merely case of prowess with the needle or the paint brush or the carpenters set or throwing ball or playing a game, nothing of tremendous i'm portance would be lost possibly But all such physical efforts re- act on the mind and develop it The girl and boy who are taught ffuick judgment and coordination of mind and muscle when little will be better fitted for driving for engineering and for the arts too, when they are older. A long cry, you say, from sewing to air planes. Not so very far" I am inclined tO answer