When the Child First Goes to School

At the age of six, when the average child first goes to school, practically everything he sees is new and interesting, and worthy of deep consideration. His brain gets no rest from the time he wakes until he goes to sleep at night.

To do its work, the brain needs a full and active blood supply, and this it will take often at the expense of leaving an inadequate amount for the demands of the rest of the body.

Curiously enough, excessive mental activity seems to have no stunting effect on the growth in the way of height. It is in breadth and thickness that the body suffers. Everyone is familiar with the tall, lanky boy or girl in the early teens who is said not to care much for games and exercise, and is, unfortunately, “rather delicate.” This youngster is almost certain to be pointed out by the proud parents as being extremely well up in his studies.

Short of encouraging laziness or indolence at school, it really makes very little difference to the ordinary man or woman, so far as their adult mental attainments go, whether they were ranked as fairly good scholars or fairly poor ones when they were young children. On the other hand, the effort necessary to be made by a sensitive, not over-brilliant child to keep a good place among its fellows may have a serious physical effect that will hamper him or her throughout life.

WHAT NATURE’S DOCTORS PRESCRIBE FOR CHILDREN

D^R SUNLIGHT	D^R FRESH-AIR	D^R WALK	D^R PLAY
D^R REST	D^R OPEN-WINDOW	D^R WORK	D^R SLEEP
D^R STAND-UP	D^R BREATHE-THROUGH-THE-NOSE	D^R BATHE	D^R MASTICATE

D^R SUNLIGHT	D^R FRESH-AIR	D^R WALK
D^R PLAY	D^R REST	D^R OPEN-WINDOW
D^R WORK	D^R SLEEP	D^R STAND-UP
D^R BREATHE-THROUGH-THE-NOSE	D^R BATHE	D^R MASTICATE

The effort should be made when a child is first sent to school to determine just how much work he can do comfortably and happily. If an attempt is made to force him to do more than this, he will become depressed and worried. With children, any mental worry will shortly produce unmistakable signs on the physique. It is a bad plan to attempt to get as much as possible out of a child; there should always be a certain amount of vital energy left for emergencies.

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