Two Years

Runs.... Repeats two or three words.... Knows features....

Obeys simple commands, such as "Throw me the ball".... Imitates movements....

Two and One-Half Years

Talks in short sentences.... Knows names of members of the family.... Roughly copies a circle.... Recognizes self in mirror.... Imitates more complex movements....

Three Years

Talks distinctly.... Repeats sentences of six simple words....

Repeats up to two numerals--meaning repeats first one numeral and then two numerals.... Enumerates objects in a complex picture and attempts to describe it....

Four Years

Knows its s.e.x.... Names familiar objects, such as key, knife, etc..... Repeats three numerals.... Compares two sticks (can select the longer).... Distinguishes the longer of two lines....

Five Years

Compares weights and lengths.... Copies a square.... Counts four pennies.... Describes a picture....

Breakfast:--(7 to 8 o'clock) Oatmeal, hominy or cracked wheat (cooked three hours), served with milk, a little salt but very little sugar. A soft egg, boiled, poached, or coddled. Stale bread and b.u.t.ter. One gla.s.s of warm milk. At 10 o'clock, the juice of one orange.

Dinner:--(12 o'clock) Strained soup, four ounces. Chop, roast beef, steak, chicken, small quant.i.ty of any one. Baked potato and cooked rice, or spaghetti. A selection of green vegetables may be made from asparagus tips, string beans, peas, spinach, cauliflower, carrots; they should be cooked until very soft, and mashed or put through a sieve. For dessert, plain rice pudding or bread pudding, stewed prunes, baked or stewed apple, junket, custard or cornstarch. A gla.s.s of milk or water.

Supper:--(6 o'clock) Cereal; farina, arrowroot, cream of wheat, wheatena (each cooked two hours), with salt but no sugar. Give two or three tablespoonfuls. Drink of milk with stale bread and b.u.t.ter. Twice a week, a little plain ice cream, or junket, custard or cornstarch.

Three meals a day at this time are better than more frequent feedings.

The child has a better appet.i.te and much better digestion. It may be found necessary to give delicate children a luncheon at 3 o'clock. A gla.s.s of milk and a Graham wafer, or a cup of broth and a zwieback, will answer the purpose. Children recovering from serious illness will need more frequent nourishment. Up to the sixth year the diet may conform to the above schedule, increasing the individual quant.i.ties as circ.u.mstances may warrant.

THE DIET OF OLDER CHILDREN (FROM SIX TO TEN YEARS)

After the sixth year the diet will conform to the adult diet, with certain exceptions. The important exceptions are as follows: All meats are to be excluded except roast beef, steak, lamb chops, roast lamb, mutton chop; all meats should be cooked rare and either sc.r.a.ped or finely divided. They should be broiled or roasted, never fried, and never given oftener than once daily, and then only in small quant.i.ty.

Pies, rich puddings, pastries of all kinds, gravies, sauces, all highly seasoned dishes; wine, beer, coffee, tea, should never be given to children. Ham, bacon, sausage, pork, liver, kidney, game, and all dried and salted meats, codfish, mackerel and halibut, are particularly bad.

The following articles are permissible: Broiled chicken, shad, ba.s.s. The "platter gravy" from a roast is very nourishing if given in small amounts. Milk should continue to form an important part of the dietary up to the tenth year. It should be clean and fresh but not too rich.

Sometimes it is found advisable to dilute the milk with water that has been boiled and cooled. Some children will take it if a pinch of salt or bicarbonate of soda is put into it, and they will digest it easier and better. They should never be allowed to take more than one quart daily and frequently less will do more good. Cream is not good for children of this age. Eggs are valuable; they should never be given fried or in the form of omelets, they are best given boiled, poached or coddled and only slightly cooked. It is never necessary to give more than one egg at a meal. There are children with whom eggs do not agree; these children are disposed to "biliousness."

VEGETABLES.--Certain vegetables are objectionable at this age: Raw celery, radishes, raw onions, cuc.u.mbers, tomatoes, lettuce, corn, lima beans, cabbage, egg plant. The following are good: White potatoes (never fried), spinach, peas, asparagus tips, string beans, celery, young beets, carrots, squash, turnips, boiled onions and cauliflower. It is important to remember that all vegetables should be thoroughly cooked; they cannot be cooked too much. After boiling for some time the water should be drained off and fresh water used to complete cooking.

Vegetables should be fed in small quant.i.ties. From the third to the tenth year they form an important and essential part of the diet of all children. After the tenth year they can be eaten as served to adults, and other vegetables may then be added. As a rule salads of all kinds should be omitted until after the twelfth year.

CEREALS.--Children should not be allowed to eat too much cereal at one meal,--never more than one small saucerful. Cereals should be properly cooked. It is not safe to adhere strictly to the directions on the package of any cereal. As a rule they require much longer cooking. They are best cooked in a double boiler. They may be served with milk, salt, and not more than one teaspoonful of sugar.

BREAD.--Fresh bread is never allowable. Graham wafers, oatmeal crackers, Huntley and Palmer breakfast biscuits, bran m.u.f.fins, rye bread, corn bread, stale rolls, are all suitable to growing children.

Hot bread, fresh rolls, buckwheat or griddle cakes, all sweet cakes, are objectionable.

DESSERTS.--The only permissible desserts for this age are junket, custards, plain rice, or sago; or bread pudding. The only safe rule to follow so far as "sweet things" are concerned, is not to give them at all. This applies to candy, ice cream, pies, pastries, jam, syrups, preserved fruits, nuts and dried fruits. The parent who indulges a child to "a taste," is guilty of a bad habit, and it can only lead to trouble.

FRUITS.--These should always be fresh and selected with care. Fruit is the most important article of diet to a child of this age. Up to five years it is safest to use only cooked fruits and fresh fruit juices: of these the juice from sweet oranges, grape fruit, peaches, strawberries, and raspberries may be given. Stewed or baked apples, apple sauce, figs, prunes, peaches, apricots, pears are excellent because of their effect on the bowels. When the bowels are loose, and especially in hot weather, great care must be taken when fruit of any kind is used. The pulp of any fruit should never be used; cherries, bananas, pineapples, and berries are not to be given to children. Milk should never be allowed at the same meal when sour fruit is served.

WHAT MOTHERS SHOULD KNOW

CHAPTER XXI

"Life has taught me that it is the women of a country in whose hands its destiny reposes. No cause that is not great enough to command their devotion and pure enough to deserve their sympathy can ever wholly triumph."

JOSEPH H. CHOATE.

THE EDUCATION OF THE MOTHER

What Mothers Should Know About the Care of Children During Illness--A Sick Child Should be in Bed--The Diet of the Sick Child--A Child is the Most Helpless Living Thing--The Delicate Child--How to Feed the Delicate Child--How to Bathe the Delicate Child--Airing the Delicate Child--Habits of the Delicate Child--Indiscriminate Feeding--Poor Appet.i.te--Loss of Appet.i.te--Treatment of Loss of Appet.i.te--Overeating in Infancy--What Correct Eating Means--Bran as a Food--Breakfast for a Child at School--Lunch for a Child at School--Bran m.u.f.fins for School Children--Bran m.u.f.fins in Constipation--Hysterical Children--What a Mother Should Know About Cathartics and How to Give a Dose of Castor Oil--Castor Oil--Calomel--Citrate of Magnesium--When to Use Castor Oil--When to Use Calomel--Vaccination--Time for Vaccination--Methods of Vaccination.--Symptoms of Successful Vaccination.

WHAT MOTHERS SHOULD KNOW ABOUT THE CARE OF CHILDREN DURING ILLNESS

Every child has a certain amount of vitality and resistance. When illness comes it should be our duty to maintain the vitality and resistance to the highest degree. We should, therefore, irrespective of the nature of the illness, surround the child with all the conditions that will minister to the preservation of whatever strength and vitality the child has. Experience has taught us that there are certain requirements that should be carried out in the general management of sick children.

A SICK CHILD SHOULD BE IN BED.--In the first place a sick child should be in bed. There is no exception to this rule. It is impossible to do justice to a child if you allow him to dissipate his strength and exhaust himself moving from place to place while he is sick. A mother should not forget that it is she who must exercise wisdom and decide what is best for her child. The judgment of a sick person is not to be relied upon, and it would be wrong to submit to the whims and fancies of an ailing child, if these are known to be medically disadvantageous to its best interests.

Quiet surroundings are essential in all acute illnesses. The nurse should be congenial to the child. If the patient demands the presence of the mother she should remain, but she should not try to entertain him or interfere with the nurse.

The clothing of the patient should be the ordinary night-dress which is worn in health. In no disease is any special kind, or quant.i.ty of clothing required.

The temperature of the room should be 68 F. Thermometers are cheap and an exact knowledge of the degree of heat in a sickroom is an essential requisite. Nothing drains the vitality during sickness quicker than varying degrees of heat and cold. It uses up nerve force and energy and renders the patient irritable and difficult to manage.

The strictest attention should be paid to the ventilation of the sickroom. We are learning more and more that fresh air is essential to the speedy cure of all diseases and to the general well-being of the patient. A direct, continuous communication between the sickroom and out-of-doors is imperative. It is a splendid measure to use two rooms for the patient and to change him twice daily, and to air thoroughly the unused room.

The sickroom itself should be large and in a quiet part of the house. In summer time the windows may be wide open, in winter months the degree of ventilation can be regulated by the thermometer.

Many mothers fail to appreciate that drinking water is an important requisite in all ailments of childhood, should be given freely, but it should be known to be absolutely pure. The same rule applies to sponging the patient. It must be done every day; sometimes it is necessary to do it more often, but if so it will be so directed by the attending physician.

THE DIET OF THE SICK CHILD.--Prescribing the diet of the sick child is an important undertaking. It should be remembered that during sickness the digestive capacity is reduced; consequently the food must be lessened in quant.i.ty and in strength. If the patient is an infant at breast the best way to accomplish our purpose is to give before each feeding two ounces of boiled water, cooled to the temperature of the body. This dilutes the mother's milk and renders it more easy of digestion. If bottle-fed, it is accomplished by replacing one-half of the milk with water. In certain diseases milk is totally withdrawn, but these cases will be noted when discussing the treatment of the various diseases. With older children, we give milk diluted with water, or gruels, soups, or cereals, as conditions warrant.

Needless interference with the patient must not be indulged in. Sleep and quiet are essential features of nature's reparative process. It is seldom necessary to disturb a sick child for the giving of food or medicine oftener than every second or third hour. Medicine may always be given with food. Meddlesome interference, talkative attendants, or excessive noise may exhaust a child and may prolong and render dangerous or fatal a condition that would otherwise go on to recovery.

One satisfactory movement of the bowel daily is essential to the comfort and progress of a sick person. If this does not take place naturally, it should be obtained by an enema.

At the beginning of any illness in childhood it is a safe procedure to give a dose of a suitable cathartic as soon as it is discovered that the child is sick.

A CHILD IS THE MOST HELPLESS LIVING THING.--Nature endows the young of every species--except those of the human family--with certain instincts, which, when developed, govern and control their lives absolutely. The technical definition of an instinct is an exceedingly complicated word picture. It is only essential to an intelligent understanding of our subject that the reader should have a definite idea of the difference between an act that is the result of a process of reasoning and an act that is the result of an instinct. If a man finds his way out of his burning home he will stay out as long as there is any danger. The crudest kind of reasoning will teach this lesson. A horse, on the other hand--and incidentally it may be noted that a horse is regarded as an intelligent animal--if led out of a burning stable and let loose, will immediately reenter and be burned to death. The horse is the victim of instinct; he obeys the unconquerable instinct to return to his stall--he cannot reason as the man can that a home that is burning is not a proper place to seek safety in. When an ostrich fears danger he buries his head in the sand, under the impression that if his head is out of sight he is safe from danger. This is his instinctive plan of procedure in the presence of danger, and it is the plan of every ostrich, everywhere, always. A little reasoning would show them how foolish the idea is--but they cannot reason. That is the province of man alone. If the first member of a flock of sheep jumps over a fence to get into the next field, every member of the flock will follow, each one jumping the fence, though there may be an open gate between the two fields a few yards away. Instinct dictates the plan to the sheep as they have received instructions from their ancestors always to "follow the lead."

This is their hereditary legacy and they cannot disobey it.