The control of these nervous habits is somewhat like the management of the slipping of the wheels of a locomotive when the track is wet and slippery. The little folks ofttimes endeavor to apply the brakes, but they are minus the sand which keeps the wheels from slipping. The parent, with his well-planned discipline, is able to supply this essential element, and thus the child is enabled to gain a sufficient amount of self-control to prevent him making a continuous spectacle of himself.
When nervous children do not walk or talk early, let them alone. Of course, if later on it is discovered that they are manifestly backward children, something must be done about it; but if the nervous child is encouraged to talk too soon there is great danger of his developing into a stutterer or a stammerer.
PREVENTING HYSTERIA
Every year we have pass through our hands men and women, especially women, who possess beautiful characters, who have noble intellects, and who have high aims and holy ambitions in life, but whose careers have been well-nigh ruined, almost shattered, because of the hysterical tendency which ever accompanies them, and which, just as soon as the stress and strain of life reaches a certain degree of intensity, unfailingly produces its characteristic breakdown; the patient is seized with confusion, is overcome by feeling, indulges in an emotional sprawl, is flooded with terrible apprehensions and distracting sensations, may even go into a convulsive fit, and, in extreme cases, even become unconscious and rigidly stiff.
Now, in the vast majority of cases, if this nervous patient, when a baby, had been thoroughly disciplined and taught proper self-control before it was four years of age, it would have developed into quite a model little citizen; and while throughout life it would have borne more or less of a hysteria stigma, nevertheless it would have possessed a sufficient amount of self-control to have gotten along with dignity and success; in fact, the possibilities are so tremendous, the situation is so terrible in the case of these nervous babies, that we might almost say that, in the majority of such, success and failure in life will be largely determined by the early and effective application of these methods of preventive discipline.
I was recently consulted by a patient whose nervous system was in a deplorable state, who had lost almost complete mental control of herself, and who really presented a pathetic spectacle as she told of the fears and worries that enthralled her. In an effort to get to the bottom of this patient's heredity I had a conference with her father, and I learned that this woman, in her childhood days, had been constantly humored—allowed to have everything she wanted. She was a delicate and sensitive little thing and the parents could not bear to hear her cry, it made her sick, it gave her convulsions, it produced sleepless nights, it destroyed her appetite, and so she grew up in this pampered way. The father recognized the greatness of his mistake and he told me with tears in his eyes how, when the ringing of the school bell disturbed his little girl baby, he saw the school directors and had them stop ringing the bell, and he even stopped the ringing of the church bells. He was an influential citizen and could even stop the blowing of the whistles if it disturbed his precious little daughter.
And so this woman has grown up with this nervous system naturally weakened by heredity and further weakened by "spoiling"; and fortunate indeed she will be if off and on the most of her life she is not seeking the advice of a physician in her efforts to gain that self-control which her parents could have so easily put in her possession at the time she was three or four years of age, if they had only spent a few hours then, instead of the many months and years that subsequently have been devoted to medical attention.
METHODS OF DISCIPLINE
We run into many snags when we undertake to discipline the nervous baby. The first is that it will sometimes cry so hard that it will get black in the face and may even have a convulsion; occasionally a small blood vessel may be ruptured on some part of the body, usually the face. When you see the little one approaching this point, turn it over and administer a sound spanking and it will instantly catch its breath. This will not have to be repeated many times until that particular difficulty will be largely under control.
It will be discovered when you undertake to break a bad habit in the case of a spoiled child who is of a nervous temperament, that your discipline interferes with the child's appetite and nutrition. The delicate little creature who has perhaps already given you no end of trouble regarding its feeding, will begin to lose in weight, and even the doctor often becomes so alarmed that he advises against all further methods of discipline. We think this is usually a mistake. Both the nutrition and discipline should be kept in mind and carried harmoniously through to a successful finish. It will be necessary during such troublous times to conserve both the physical and nervous strength of the child; it should not be allowed to run about and over-play, as such high strung children often do. It should be given a reasonable amount of physical exercise, and two or three times a day should have short periods of complete isolation in the nursery, where it may quietly play with its blocks and toys, sing and croon or talk as the case may be, but should be left entirely alone.