YOUNG HUMAN NATURE !S SO ADAPTABLE, 



so elastic in its response to the conditions under which it lives, that it is only when 

 some severe strain is imposed by accident, illness, overwork, the shock of a sudden 

 bereavement, or the fulfilment of the function of maternity, that the flaw is revealed, 

 the weak spot gives way, or some unsuspected damage leads to a break-down of the 

 vital machinery. 



A wise variety of food is beneficial after the first three years of life; but, and 

 this is a " but " of primary importance, intelligent regard must be had to a child's 

 age and a child's tastes. 



Food which is hated is food undigested, and no child can be starved even for 

 a day without risk. When porridge, or meat ns well as its fat, or any one kind of 

 fish, or even eggs, are obviously odious, so that the boy or girl will go hungry rather 

 than eat them, do not attempt to force them down. There are quite definite 



FOOD IDIOSYNCRACIES 



at all ages, and these must be respected. They may be outgrown; if they are, so 

 much the better. 



A child's chief meal should be at midday; to eat heartily just before bed-time 

 is not to be recommended; preferably there should be at least an hour's interval. 

 This introduces the subject of 



SCHOOL LUNCHES, 



for many children have to take their midday meal away from home. To provide 

 and pack a suitable lunch daily for two or three growing boys and girls calls for 

 considerable management and time; it is far more satisfactory when arrangements 

 are made for a good, hot meal at the school, a method most skilfully developed in 

 the United States, even in rural districts; more slowly adopted in Great Britain, 

 and scarcely yet attempted in Canada. The subject calls for the early attention 

 and prompt action of the Women's Institutes. 



THE QUANTITY OF FOOD 



required by individual children from infanry upwards varies widely: it depends 

 upon size rather than upon age. If the face be set sternly against " between-meal 

 snacks" in any form, unrestricted consumption at meals may usually be permitted, 

 if demands for "more" are satisfied by bread and butter or simple puddings. If 

 these are contemptuously refused, there is no reason to suspect unsatisfied hunger. 

 Finally, meat or fish should not be given more than once a day under ten, and not 

 more than twice a day during school-life. When a boy begins a man's work he 

 needs a man's diet. 



THE PREVALENT TENDENCY TO CONSTIPATION 



in early life is usually the result of failure to train in the necessary habit at a 

 sufficiently early age, or of laxity in the superintendence required to see that as 

 a child becomes more independent he does not ignore the call of nature for relief, 

 owing to his absorption in play or other pursuits. 



A clever nurse can train an infant to regularity in this respect by the age of 

 six weeks, with the result that the habit becomes so firmly established that purgative 

 medicine is never needed, to the enormous advantage of the individual; but, and 

 once again this is an 



IMPORTANT "BUT," 



regularity of time at which the bowels are trained to act is not the only element 

 in successful training; the intestines must act strongly and forcibly, so that their 

 contents can be expelled. This brings in the factor of diet, for there is no strength 

 without work, and the bowels must be trained to work equally with other parts 

 of the body. The food must contain sufficient bulk, which is secured after early life 

 by eating suitably cooked cereals, fruit, and vegetables; it must contain enough 

 fat (the addition of more cream to the diet, or of a little olive-oil or a slice of cold 

 bacon, often removes constipation), and plenty of water must be drunk. Hence 

 the well-known remedy of a glass of water on rising and on retiring to bed. 



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