The times-news. [volume] (Hendersonville, N.C.) 1927-current, 1934-03-13
Child Guidance
by
Frank Howard Richardson
M. D.. F. A. c. P.
Black Mountain, N. c., and
Brooklyn. N. Y.
NERVOUS HABITS-THEIR
CAUSE AND THEIR CURE

Doctor, you can see for your
self just how nervous my little girl
is! We are all of us nervous, in
our family,-her father is of the
intellectual type, and as for me, /
am nothing but bundle of
nerves. Henrietta, try hard to con-
troll yourselfw
Henrietta, thus exhorted, tried
to control herself, but failed la
mentably,-as We both expected
her to. In fact, her mother would
have been quite disappointS had
she succeeded; for was, she not a
nervous child?
Henrietta'S nervousness hap
pened to show itself in the tan
trum with which she greeted my
efforts to examine her throat; but
it might have shown itself in any
one of a. hundred other different
ways. 1t was complicated by the
fact that a silly mother had set
the stage for a show; and that an
unfortunate child could hardly be
expected to refrain from getting
the generous share of the lime
light that her nervousness" pro-
cured for her.
The cure for. nervous habits of
all sorts is two-fold. The habit it.
self must be treated, of course,
whether it be tantrums like Hen
rietta's, or night terrors, or nail
biting, or what you will. But even
more important is it to get at the
underlying cause that has pro-
duced the nervous habit. For if
this is not removed, one habit will
follow on just as rely as its pre-
decessor is removed; or else, as
frequently happens, the second is
added unto the first, and the last
state is worse than, what went be-
fore.
Two things are essential to a
cure. One is the careful eXamina-
ton that only good doctor can
give. The second is the coopera-
ton of parents, without which the
doctor is helpless.
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
QUESTION: Dear Dr.. Richard
son: | have a little boy of nine,
who is not defective, but is shy,
sensitive and very slow. His old
er brothers are well-developed and
large for their ages; while his sis
ter, two years younger, is fire.
quently m i S t a k en- for his
twin, OF for his older sister. What
can l do to make him tougher fl
bred?
ANSWER: should take him to
someone recommended by your
doctor who will test him to make
sure whether he is actually up to
| normal mentally. If you find that
he is, then it is your problem, not
to make him tougher fibred," as
: you call it, but to shield him from
unthinking remarks and constant
| ly recurring emotional hurts that
his situation makes almost newt
able. He may turn out to be the
most outstanding one of your
whole family group; or he may
succumb'to the succession of hurts
that life deals him, and land in
sanatorium. Give him the square
deal he is entitled to.
QUESTION: My child is given
homework so difficult that | can
not do it; and so long that |
should not do it if I could. What
cannI do about it?
ANSWER: Talk first with the
teacher. Many teachers do not APP
! prove of homework, but give it
because so many parents feel that
their, children will be left behind
/ in the race if they do not have it.
If she insists upon giving what
you believe to be excessive, and
| the principal feels the same way
get certificate from your fam
| ily' physician limiting the amount
or time he wishes the child tt
! spend at his books. This solves the
problem most satisfactorily. Sucf