Evening star., 1938-08-17
When Child
Delays His
Dressing
These Suggestions
Should Help to
Quicken Pace.
BY ANGELO PATRI.


THE child who delays dressing Is .
hardship to his mother. Calling
to him. running to see II he has
reached the second stocking yet, pull
Ing on his left shoe, threatening, driv.
ing, showing him along. she gets him
into the bus and sinks into the near
est chair. well nigh exhausted. Next
morning the same performance is re-
peated You cannot hurry Donald.
Maybe pacing him will help. When
he is wide awake, turn on q march
record Start him dressing to its
rhythm. Say nothing, but keep
catching him up whenever he slows
down. 1t is possible that the rhythm
will catch him and carry him along
q bit.
Set the alarm clock to ring at set
time. Show him where the hands will
be when he hears it ring and knows
his time is up. Have him watch the
minute hand 60 around. Set his clock,
start him and hope that the rhythm
of the clock and the call of'its bell
will drive him along.
Start him the night before. Have
him lay out his clothes in the order
In which he will put them on in the
morning That Is a great help. II
his clothes are in a disordered heap,
If he has to hunt for his underwear,
untangle the legs, chase after his
stockings, hunt his shoes, he will be
lost and nothing will save him except
the direct interference Of the grown
up person. When he has everything
ready to his hand, he lends himself
to the rhythm Of the music or the tick
Of the clock more readily.
Can he be paced? Is there some
body close to his own age, one who
will cheerfully time him by leading
in the race? That helps. Brother or
sister says, Underwear, one button,
two buttons, done; waits for the
slower one to show.a start and begins
again: Stocking for the right foot,
stocking for the left, garter fastened
chanting along. in rhythmic fashion,
dragging the slow one along. Some
times mother can spare the time for
this pacing 1t Is just another rhyth-
mic suggestion OF time and movement
tied together.
Slow children often lack rhythm.
They move in jerks, fits and starts.
For an instant they make q positive
gesture; 1t fades out before 1t can be
completed. Scolding will not help this
q bit. It will make 1t worse. The
child needs training, needs the careful,
understanding teaching Of the expert
who knows how to induce rhythmic
movements and 20 coordinate the
various and essential actions Of the
child. Music. drumming, dancing,
singing, listening to rhythmical music
and expressing it in some rhythmical
way will always help such children.
Always they should be tested by q
skilled child specialist in an effort to
discover If there is a physical lack at
the root Of the difficulty. Diet must
be. watched. Sleep must be guarded.
Mental health must be put at q pre-
MUM or the slow child. BY mental
health I mean the state of mind that
makes the best starting place for ac-
curate, happy. successful doing of any
sort.
Healthy mental states are fed by
healthy bodily states, exercised, rou-
tined to good health habits ought to
be mentally healthy, provided that
there is nothing in his experience to
weight his mind. Nagging, fear and
insecurity will cause mental illness
and bring on dullness in otherwise
healthy children. Good health thrives
on Z rhythmic routine, IN . rhythmic
body, IA . mind a* oeaee.