GENERAL HEALTH HINTS 683 



CLOTHING OF CHILDREN 



A point of primary importance in regard to the 

 clothing of children, which mothers should ever bear 

 in mind, is the fact that frequent changes are necessi- 

 tated by the almost constant changes of temperature 

 in this climate. The weather of a temperate climate is 

 always subject to changes, which will be recognized, 

 and should be as far as possible anticipated, by the 

 careful mother. Children possess very little power to 

 resist the influence of cold or heat. Their vital func- 

 tions, while very active, are more easily disturbed than 

 those of older people, hence they are more susceptible 

 to injury from change of weather than older persons. 

 Mothers should be constantly on the lookout for 

 changes which may involve the life of their little ones. 

 The fashion of putting on flannel undergarments at 

 the beginning of the cold season of the year and put- 

 ting them off again at the beginning of spring, is a 

 pernicious one. There is no time of year when flannel 

 clothing is more imperiously required than in the cool, 

 damp days of spring and the occasional cool days in 

 summer. Clothing should be adjusted to the weather 

 of each day independently. In the wintertime, an 

 unusually cold day demands an additional supply of 

 clothing; in summertime, an unusually hot day may 

 require an opposite change of garments. In the spring 

 and autumn, particularly when the weather is very 

 changeable, it may be necessary to change the clothing 

 two or three times a day in order to meet the exigencies 

 of the weather. 



Children should never be allowed to suffer for the 

 want of a change of this kind simply because the needed 

 garment has been soiled or must be saved for Sunday 



