8o6 Reading-Course for Farmers' Wives. 



usually goes hand in hand with eating between meals and habitual irregu- 

 larity of the meal time and the bed hour. It should be looked upon as 

 something requiring immediate investigation and correction. 



Exercise. — The first exercise which the normal baby takes is a vocal 

 one. Its cry establishes the power of the lungs to do their work. There- 

 after a certain amount of lusty crying each day strengthens the vocal 

 chords, the muscles of throat, chest, abdomen and back and gives the 

 cliild a good wholesome stirring up o^ general activities, through an in- 

 creased circulation of blood. For the first week the exercise attendant 

 upon the daily changes of clothing, occasional turning during sleep and 

 normal crying is sufficient. After this, exercise may be given by wheel- 

 ing the child in its carriage a few moments at a time several times a day, 

 or by carrying in the arms, by gentle rubbing or massage and by allowing 

 the child to kick and squirm free from all clothing for five or ten minutes 

 at night when undressing and in the morning when dressing. As soon as 

 a child creeps it usually exercises sufficiently by itself. Children should 

 not be encouraged to walk at too early an age as premature exercise of 

 any function is very harmful. 



As the child grows older and its exercise takes the form of play, thought 

 should be given to a selection of games and toys. Those should be sug- 

 gested and chosen which will lead to an all-around muscular development, 

 as balls for arm and shoulder muscles, ladders or bars for the back, and 

 the like. The discovery that play is useful and that games and toys have 

 other than a pleasurable meaning is a new one. Now we know that play 

 is a vital form of exercise for the growing child, so we encourage it and 

 organize it and include it in our school curricula. The. play-ground and 

 the play-hour are as important factors in tlie education oi the child as 

 the school room and the daily lesson. 



Fresh air is very necessary to the baby. If the weather is warm and 

 the baby is protected from sun and wind it may sleep out of doors during 

 the day time after the first three or four days. If the weather is 

 cold it must be gradually accustomed to the change of air by opening the 

 windows for a short period several times a day. This does not mean 

 that the room should not be well ventilated at other times. By the end 

 of the first month the child should have a daily outing. If well wrapped 

 and rightly protected from cold, from too much light and from wind, 

 the child may spend most of the day out of doors, even in moderately cold 

 weather, and will be all the better for the treatment. This applies to the 

 frail child as well as to the healthy one. Out of door sleeping for children 

 as well as for adults, is now recognized as an excellent curative for the 

 feeble ones and an excellent preventive for the robust ones. The sleep- 

 ing rooms of growing children should be thoroughly ventilated. In 



