Above all, no child under fifteen should have to do any routine night study to keep up in his lessons. Young eyes are easily strained, and young bodies are easily tired. Watch a tired child who has to study at night; he will get his body in the most comfortable position he can manage, and will take no thought of the direction from which the light falls on his page. Nor has he the energy to hold his book so that the plane of the lines is always parallel to that of his eyes.
His mind may accumulate a little extra book knowledge by such work, but only at the risk of strained eyes and possible spinal defects. Lateral curvature of the spine, in a great majority of cases, may be traced back to habitual faulty postures used by children when at school work. A fair rule to make about night work is to allow a child to study at home only so long as he will comfortably sit upright and hold his book at a correct angle.
In children, the physical state is a very good guide to the mental condition. If the body is tired, the mind is in no fit state to absorb knowledge. The thin, narrow-chested, delicate youth, perhaps with strained eyes and nearly always with a good school record, is nine times out of ten a preventable mistake.
If, when first he showed signs of more than average scholarship, his parents had noted that this superiority was due principally to work done when physically tired, and to neglect of outdoor games and general “play,” a little sense of the comparative worth of health and youthful scholarship would have given him a greater chance of developing into a valuable citizen.
THE PROPER TIME
FOR WORK
A child’s brain, and its body as well, are in the prime of their vigor during the morning hours. From nine till noon, therefore, should be the period of the hardest mental or physical work he undergoes. Evening preparation of lessons is harmful, not only because it tends to bring into a state of high activity the brain, which shortly should be quiet and ready to sink into slumber, but also because it throws hard work on an already fatigued organ. Much of the nervousness, debility, and insomnia so common among school children can be traced to evening preparation.
NECESSITY OF ABUNDANT
FOOD
The more actively growing the tissues, the greater the need for abundant nourishment. The growing child, therefore, requires more food in relation to his size and weight than does the grown person who has passed the stage of rapid development.
No fixed rule can be laid down as to how much a child should eat. Generally speaking, the country-bred child, living an outdoor life, may rely on his own appetite as a guide. On the other hand, the city child, living a more indoor artificial life, may have little appetite, and as a result, if not watched, may lapse into a condition of malnutrition simply through underfeeding. The best guide, perhaps, is the child’s weight. If he is continually below weight, this fact may in all cases be taken as proof either that the child’s food is unsuitable to its age and digestive powers, or else deficient in amount.