THE CHILD by Mrs. Mary Wood-Allen, M.D.

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, Cal. · Jun 25, 1902

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 28, No. 26.

THE CHILD

By Mrs. Mary Wood-Allen, M.D.

III. TEMPERANCE.

AMONG the enumerated virtues desirable for the child to possess was that of temperance. It would seem at first flush as if this were not a virtue suited to childhood; but we must remember that the foundation of all mature characteristics is laid during the period of immaturity. Sensations, constantly repeated, make impressions on the plastic brain, and there form pathways, as it were, over which pass the impulses which eventuate in action; and thus are formed the habits of life. A habit of regularity is the foundation of a life of temperance, if that regularity is in temperate experiences. We must not forget that temperance, or its opposite, may express itself in speech or conduct as well as in eating and drinking. And to be temperate, one must be moderate and well regulated in all life's manifestations. Adler says, "Regularity may not in itself be a moral quality, but the life of irregularity always tends toward immorality."

The first lessons in temperance, then, are to be found in the calm, self-poised, and well-regulated lives of those who are about the child, and then in the regulation of its own daily experiences.

It may seem impossible to set the little life to going with clockwork precision; but we can at least avoid starting the routine in objectionable ways.

The knowledge of a few simple physiological facts will be a great help here.

It seems to be a common idea that the child comes into the world in a starving condition, and therefore must have something put at once into its stomach. The premise being false, the conclusion is inevitably false. At birth the child, if normal, is fully fed, having been constantly taking in nourishment during its prenatal life. It can well afford to wait, fasting, for the arrival of its natural food. A little warm, unsweetened water is all it needs for the first two or three days. Oils, teas, or foods of any kind, only serve to irritate the digestive organs, and lay the foundation for future dyspepsia, and that bad condition continued in later life may produce a craving for stimulation.

The baby may be put to the breast every few hours in order to stimulate the mammary glands to action, and also for it to begin to learn its lesson of working for a living. The first secretion of the breast is its normal first food; and it is a great unkindness to feed it before that arrives. It is sad enough to be obliged to revert to artificial food because of the failure of the natural supply.

Some nurses give the new-born infant brandy and water, or quiet it with soothing syrups, both of which methods are direct lessons in intemperance. Soothing syrups are made up of alcohol, opium, and other deleterious substances, and are most dangerous both in their proximate and their ultimate effects.

The use of beer, ale, wine, or other alcoholic beverage is equally objectionable. The baby may sleep better because the mother takes beer, but it is the sleep of alcoholic stupor. It is stated by some authorities that in some localities in France and other European countries it is difficult to find a sober baby, as all are more or less intoxicated by the alcohol-poisoned milk of the beer- or wine-drinking mother.

Giving children food in order to stop their cries is a method which tends toward intemperance. It is teaching the lesson of quieting pain or forgetting discomfort by putting something into the mouth. The discouraged man who attempts to forget his discouragement by the aid of alcohol is following the same plan.

Overeating is in itself intemperance in the use of food, and tends to intemperance in drink. Unfortunately people have obtained the idea that because they feel the discomfort of a big dinner less after they have taken a glass of some alcoholic drink, they have therefore been benefited, when, on the contrary, digestion has been retarded, and they only feel better because sensation has been deadened by partial paralysis of sensory nerves. The use of alcohol in any form as a home remedy is a lesson in intemperance. The same may be said of its use in cooking.

Many a fond and pious mother is praying for the destruction of her children more effectually through her cookery than she is praying for their salvation by her agonizing petitions. Tea, coffee, spices, rich and highly seasoned foods, create irritations that demand soothing by the inundation of fluids. The "free lunch" of the saloons is a shrewd allurement based upon this fact. She is a most unwise mother whose home table offers a temptation to visit the saloon in order to quench the thirst her cooking has created.

A lack of knowledge as to the kind of food to give the growing boy in order to build up a complete and healthy body, may send him out from home with a craving for something, he knows not what. And this craving he may be led to attempt to satisfy by alcohol in some form.

In order that the children may learn temperance in early life, they should have nutritious food, simply prepared, without irritating additions; given at regular intervals, in appropriate quantities, with orderly surroundings, by quiet, calm, and well-poised attendants. And as the food can not be used by the system until thoroughly digested, and as the first process of digestion is in mastication, it is absolutely essential to teach the child to chew every mouthful of food most carefully. When this is done, nature can do its part after the food has passed from the child's control. This also greatly lessens the tendency to overeat. By this plan will be secured a body symmetrically developed, a nervous system generating orderly impulses, a brain accustomed to governing by reason, not swayed by desire or sense pleasure.

The child whose life is so ordered will be not only well in body, but happy in mind; for there is no happiness greater than the certainty which comes through regularity of life; and no more fruitful source of unhappiness than that which arises from never knowing what to expect next.