CHAPTER II
THE TIME TO BUILD
We shall continue to assume that the reader, if a parent, is thinking of his child as being in the position of one whose character requires constant attention in order that it may be built up through the right sort of training and the right sort of practices. Just as certainly as there is a best time in the season to plow corn and also a time not to plow, as there is a time to plow deep and another time to plow shallow, so there is unquestionably a best time to give the child any particular form of training or to withhold it. In general, it may be said that the most effective training in respect to the human young is that which centers most closely around the childish interests and instincts.
What of the human instincts
By observing critically for a few days the conduct of an infant child, one may notice two or three pronounced instincts at work producing helpful results in the little life.
1. There is the instinct to nurse, which is so fundamental in securing the food with which to sustain and build up the body.
2. There is the accessory instinct of crying, also often necessary as nature’s signal for another intake of the food supply. Associated with these two instincts are a number of reflexes which take care of the important organic processes, such as digestion, assimilation, and excretion. Now, we have practically all there is to the “character” of the human infant. He has, as yet, no instinct for fighting, for sexual love, or for business. And any effort to arouse and make use of the last-named dormant qualities would be futile as well as ridiculous. In respect to a vast majority of the things to be learned, the child is a mere bundle of potentialities, all of which must bide their time for an awakening. In short, wise parents soon learn that the center of life in the infant child is in the stomach, and that if he be fed rightly, kept much in the open air, clothed comfortably, and bathed frequently, the body-building processes will usually go on in a satisfactory manner.
3. Although the little life seems so tiny and the daily round of infantile activities so simple and monotonous, the character-developing processes are already making their subtle beginnings. For example, the first lessons in habit are being inculcated through the comparative rhythm in the infant’s life. It will be found both conducive to good health and helpful to character-development to attend to all the infant’s needs with strict regularity. Let us follow the new-born child around his little cycle and see what happens. First, he is given a hearty meal, which is followed at once by perhaps two hours of profound sleep. Then, there is a gradual waking, the body writhes and wiggles slightly, and then more, and then still more, until a loud cry is set up. Under healthy conditions the crying should go on for a very few minutes, as it helps to send the good blood through every part of the body, purifying and building up the parts and carrying out the effete matter. The function of excretion is not only thus much aided, but the nervous equilibrium is completely restored. The little life has now swung completely round to the beginning point of two hours previously and it is ready to start on another journey with the intake of another hearty meal.
It will be found that the life circle described above continues with slight variations for the first few weeks, the child sleeping probably twenty to twenty-two hours out of twenty-four, if it be in a natural state of health. But slowly the conduct of the infant will become more complex, and that in response to the growths and changes taking place within his body. It will be found that he can take a heartier meal, can stay awake longer, kick harder, wriggle more, and cry louder as the days multiply. In a month or so his eyes will be seen following some brilliant or attractive moving body, while the impulsive movements of the hands will begin to suggest some slight definition of their conduct. Not long thereafter, the baby smile will break out in a reflex fashion and the hands will likewise grasp objects placed in the little palms. Coördinate with these new activities, nature is at work storing up new nerve structures and cells, especially in the region of the spinal cord and the cranial centers.