Chapter 5
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for them to educate physically, mentally and morally, and train them
for usefulness here, and for Heaven at last.
If the mother remains in ignorance in regard to the physical wants
of her child, and, as the result, her child sickens, she need not expect
that God will work a miracle to counteract her agency in making it
sick. Thousands of infants have died who might have lived. They are
martyrs to their parent’s ignorance of the relation which food, dress
and the air they breathe, sustain to health and life. Mothers in past
ages, should have been physicians to their own children. The time she
devoted to the extra beautifying of her infant’s wardrobe, she should
have spent in a nobler purpose—in educating her mind with regard to
her own physical wants, and that of her offspring. She should have
been storing her mind with useful knowledge, in regard to the best
course she could pursue in rearing her children healthfully, with the
view that generations would be injured or benefited, by her course of
action.
Mothers who have troublesome, fretful infants, should study into
the cause of their uneasiness. By so doing, they will often see that
something is wrong in their management. It is often the case, that
the mother becomes alarmed by the symptoms of illness manifested
by her child, and hurriedly summons a physician, when the infant’s
sufferings would have been relieved by taking off its tight clothing,
and putting upon it garments properly loose and short, that it may use
its feet and limbs. Mothers should study from cause to effect. If the
child has taken cold, it is generally owing to the wrong management
of the mother. If she covers its head, as well as its body while sleeping,
in a short time it will be in a perspiration, caused by labored breathing,
because of the lack of pure, vital air. When she takes it from beneath
the covering, it is almost sure to take cold. The arms being naked,
exposes the infant to constant cold, and congestion of lungs or brain.
These exposures prepare the way for the infant to become sickly and
dwarfed.
Parents are accountable in a great degree, for the physical health of
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their children. Those children who survive the abuses of their infancy,
are not out of danger in their childhood. Their parents still pursue a
wrong course toward them. Their limbs, as well as their arms, are left
almost naked. Those who value fashion above health, place hoops
upon their children. Hoops are not convenient, modest or healthful.