A mother ought not to leave off her children's winter clothing until the spring be far advanced: it is far better to be on the safe side, and to allow the winter clothes to be worn until the end of May. The old adage is very good, and should be borne in mind:—
"Button to chin
Till May be in;
Ne'er cast a clout
Till May be out."
134. Have you any general remarks to make on the present fashion of dressing children?
The present fashion is absurd. Children are frequently dressed like mountebanks, with feathers and furbelows and finery; the boys go bare-legged; the little girls are dressed like women, with their stuck-out petticoats, crinolines, and low dresses! Their poor little waists are drawn in tight, so that they can scarcely breathe; their dresses are very low and short, the consequence is, that a great part of the chest is exposed to our variable climate; their legs are bare down to their thin socks, or if they be clothed, they are only covered with gossamer drawers; while their feet are encased in tight shoes of paper thickness! Dress! dress! dress! is made with them, at a tender age, and when first impressions are the strongest, a most important consideration. They are thus rendered vain and frivolous, and are taught to consider dress "as the one thing needful" And if they live to be women—which the present fashion is likely frequently to prevent—what are they? Silly, simpering, delicate, lack-a-daisical nonentities; dress being their amusement, their occupation, their conversation, their everything, their thoughts by day and their dreams by night! Truly they are melancholy objects to behold! Let children be dressed as children, not as men and women. Let them be taught that dress is quite a secondary consideration. Let health, and not fashion, be the first, and we shall then have, with God's blessing, blooming children, who will, in time, be the pride and strength of dear old England!
DIET.
135. At TWELVE months old, have you any objection to a child having any other food besides that you mentioned in answer to the 34th question?
There is no objection to his occasionally having, for dinner, either a mealy, mashed potato and gravy, or a few crumbs of bread and gravy. Rice-pudding or batter-pudding may, for a change, be given; but remember, the food recommended in a former Conversation is what, until he be eighteen months old, must be principally taken. During the early months of infancy—say, for the first six or seven—if artificial food be given at all, it should be administered by means of a feeding-bottle. After that time, either a spoon, or a nursing boat, will be preferable. The food as he becomes older, ought to be made more solid.
136. At EIGHTEEN months old, have you any objection to a child having meat?
He ought not to have meat until he have several teeth to chew it with. If he has most of his teeth—which he very likely at this age will have—there is no objection to his taking a small slice either of mutton, or occasionally of roast beef, which should be well cut into very small pieces, and mixed with a mealy mashed potato, and a few crumbs of bread and gravy; either every day, if he be delicate, or every other day, if he be a gross or a fast-feeding child. It may be well, in the generality of cases, for the first few months to give him meat every other day, and either potato or gravy, or rice or suet-pudding or batter-pudding on the alternate days; indeed, I think so highly of rice, of suet, and of batter-puddings, and of other farinaceous puddings, that I should advise you to let him have either the one or the other even on those days that he has meat—giving it him after his meat. But remember, if he have meat and pudding, the meat ought to be given sparingly. If he be gorged with food, it makes him irritable, cross, and stupid; at one time, clogging up his bowels, and producing constipation; at another, disordering his liver, and causing either clay-coloured stools—denoting a deficiency of bile, or dark and offensive motions—telling of vitiated bile; while, in a third case, cramming him with food might bring on convulsions.
137. As you are to partial to puddings for a child, which do you consider the best for him?