Practical Suggestions for Mother and Housewife

by Marion Mills Miller

Above all, the parents should see that their boys and girls have facilities for that physical culture which is necessary for health and proper development. Those exercises which are both recreative and useful are preferable. Gardening may be made a delight instead of a hardship, if the child is allowed to enjoy the fruits of his labor. Let him sell the vegetables he raises to the family, and, if there is an excess, to the neighbors, for pocket money. He will enjoy purchasing his own clothing even more than using the money solely for his pleasures.

Healthful sports should be encouraged, and games, such as chess, that develops the intellect. There are many card games, such as "Authors," that impart useful instruction in literature, history, natural science, business, etc. Playing these in the home is a good thing no less for parent than child. Many a mother has acquired a well-rounded culture after her marriage through her determination to "keep ahead of the children" in their studies and intellectual activities.

The child should be early accustomed to take cold baths, and then run about naked in a room under the impulse given by the tingling glow of reaction. If a play is made of the bath the habit will be formed for life, and in this way, one of the mother's chief struggles, to make the children clean themselves, will be abolished. It is natural for a child to get dirty, and therefore it should be made as habitual an impulse for them to get clean again.

Of all such habits, keeping the teeth clean is most important. Children's teeth are a chief source of anxiety to the mother even before they make their appearance.

Troubles in teething are generally due to innutritious and illy-digested food. Sometimes, however, when the food is all right, the teeth will still have difficulty in coming through the gums. Whenever the mother observes that her crying child refuses to bring its gums together on anything, she should examine them, and, if they are swollen, have them lanced.

The "milk-teeth," even though they are temporary, should be looked after carefully, as their decay will often spread to the coming permanent teeth. Besides, they should be preserved as long as possible, and in the best condition, to aid in mastication. Accordingly, young children should be taught regularly to rinse out their mouths and to use a tooth-brush and tooth-powder.

A child should run barefoot as much as conditions and climate permit. When it wears shoes, these should conform as much as possible to the shape of the foot. With such footwear, the active child may form for life the habit of a natural gait, especially if parents will point out the beauty and advantages of this, and praise the men and women of their acquaintance who possess it. It is about the time when a girl is learning Virgil in the High School that she is tempted by vanity and the desire to be "like the other girls" to put on French heels. Then it is that the teacher or mother should quote to her the line of the Aeneid about Venus:

"The true goddess is shown by her gait,"

and save her from an irreparable folly.

If mothers will remember that children are not dolls, and that mothers are not children to take pleasure in bedecking them, they will need no advice about dressing their little ones. There is only one rule for her to follow: She should consult the comfort and health of the child, and, as far as consistent with these, the convenience to herself. It may be "cute" to dress a child like a miniature man or woman, but it is cruel to the child. There is no reason for distinguishing sex by dress in young children. "Jumpers" form the best dress for either a little boy or little girl in which to play. Even when they are older and a skirt distinguishes the girl, bloomers or knickerbockers of the same material beneath, approach the ideal of dress for comfort, health and decency more nearly than white petticoat and drawers. Indeed, the skirt is best when it is a part of a blouse, which is also a suitable dress for a boy. A child should never be tortured with a large or stiff hat. The heads of children come up to the middles of men and women, and such a hat will be crushed in a crowd, and its poor little wearer placed in mortal terror. Indeed, children should be allowed to go bareheaded as much as possible, and, when they wear hats, have these simple in shape and soft in material. The plain cap is the best head covering for a boy. The girl's may be a little more ornamental, especially in color. The universal seizure by the sex upon the boy's "Tam o'Shanter" as peculiarly suited for a play and school-hat, is therefore right and proper. For a more showy style, lingerie hats are justified. But the most beautiful and appropriate form of the "best hat" for a little girl is one of uniform material, straw, cloth or felt, with simple crown, and wide, and more or less soft brim, ornamented by a ribbon alone. The addition of a single flower may be permitted, though this is like the admission of the camel's nose into the tent,—it may lead to the entrance of the hump—the monstrosity of the modern woman's bonnet, which of late years has by terms imitated a flower garden, a vegetable garden, an orchard, and, finally, with the Chanticler fad, a poultry-yard.