“Heavenly Father, for this food,
We, Thy children, thank Thee.
Sun and showers and earth have wrought it,
Labors of our neighbors brought it.
May it give us strength to love
And serve Thee and our neighbor.”
One of the most important factors in the well-being of any individual is right feeding in childhood, especially in early childhood. One of the chief causes of sickness and death among young children is their wrong feeding. A conservative estimate would be two thousand ill on any one day from this cause. Further, wrong feeding weakens the system so the child is much more susceptible to infectious diseases.
Not only the general health of the individual but also the quality of the teeth, the efficiency of the digestive system, the desire for stimulants, the stability of the nervous system, the quality of mental activity, power of will, strength of character, the happiness or misery of everyday living, are profoundly affected by the foods and régime of feeding during childhood.
The intelligence of the mother or the nurse, the grandmother, the father, and the friend has far more to do with the right feeding of children than does the amount of the family income. The child in the wealthy home is quite as liable to be wrongly fed as the child in the poor home. It is possible to buy enough of the right kinds of nourishing foods for a very small sum.
To feed a child so as to produce one hundred per cent. efficiency in his health to-day and fifty years from to-day should be the ambition of every one who has the care of that child,—not merely to keep him from death or present illness. This is not an easy matter, nor to be learned in a day or a month. It requires careful and earnest study of food composition, food values, the physiology of digestion, dietetics, cooking; and then patience, thoroughness, and practicability to put this knowledge into use three to five times a day, seven days in the week, every week in the year.