The Waterbury Democrat., 1938-05-02
IF PROPERLY GUIDED IN HEALTH AND HABITS Any Child Can Grow Into Beauty
TEACH THE ESSENTIALS EARLY
BY ALICIA HART NEA Service Staff Writer

4NA<th h1NA NhNS OSe@AA ''AASSA
 Little girls who are taught the im- portance of cleanliness, neatness. perfect posture and other good beauty habits are sure to grow up to be attractive. Your small daughter may have slim chances of becoming great beauty, but if you do your part she'll turn out to be a charm ing, poised, perfectly -groomed young woman. What more need mother ask?
 Health is the true foundation of real beauty, the kind which doesn't fade with the years. One who acquires excellent health habits when she is still very young, isn't likely to have serious beauty prob lems when she is older. Teach your daughter to enjoy refreshing sleep, the kind of food which makes for healthy nails, hair. lovely skin, and to appreciate fresh air and exercise. These will become increasingly i'm portant to her as the years roll on.
 Beauty in Bath
 Then, too, teach her the differ ence between getting dirty and being dirty. Laughing children should play in the dirt, get smudges on their faces and sand in their hair, but no child should be allowed to preserve the accumulation of sand and mud and bits of bark on his skin from one day to the next. A daily bath is all important.
 Nail biting should not be toler- ated. It completely spells the natu- rally lovely lines Of the fingers. However, instead of threatening and scolding, give your child gentle manicure once a week, cutting away the jagged edges of cuticle, smoothing nails with an emery board. If her nails are comfortable she probably won't bite them. Teach her to push cuticle back with a towel and, once or twice week, put a bit of oil around her nails before she goes to sleep.
 Modern dentists tell us that a child's first set of teeth should be cared for regularly. If they are crooked, perhaps your dentist will recommend strengthening bands. Whatever you do. don't neglect the teeth of any child, girl or boy. Regular visits to the dentist and twice a-day brushings are of great est importance.
 Don't tell your young offspring to hold his shoulders back, then figure you have done your part toward seeing that his posture is perfect. He should carry his head erect and his shoulders square, of course, but he should learn to keep his backbone straight, too. The great majority of bad posture is caused by an exaggerated hollow in the center of the spinal column. The posture exercises that you oc- casionally do yourself are the right ones for your child.
 Sports for Poise
 A little girls hair should be brushed every night until she is old enough to do it herself. Then show her how to brush 1t, and ex- plain to her why she should not neglect this nightly ritual.
 If she is unusually shy, perhaps dancing lessons will be in order. And child health experts now agree that any youngster who knows how to do one sport well is likely to have poise, be infinitely more at ease with grown-ups as well as his playmates. If this problem has been worrying you lately, now is an excellent time to plan swimming lessons for Johnny, tennis lessons or whatever she seems interested in for his lit tie sister.
 Being beauty minded about your children may cost you a fair amount of time and money, but, years later, when you realize that your boy is handsome and your daughter really quite lovely, you'll be glad you bothered.