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Show ' YOUW ! BABY AND MINE Nervous Habits Caused By Emotional Insecurity By MYRTLE MEYER EIDRED Children who' ar victim of motional difficulties for which - ' they hav no ready solution, may develop habit apeams called tics. These tak many form but the one seen ofteneet ar eye-blinking, shoulder - shrugging, sniffing, sniff-ing, aimless movements of ths legs arms and sometime a combination of one or mor of thee. . -. Tics may be made to seem the result of some experience in the child' life, though actually remote re-mote from H. On young girl aaid ah sniffed because once she had smelled a roe and a worm went up her now. Thl sufficed aa aa explanation to other children of her age, but the adult who knew her felt that aa older lister who nagged her, th loss of the family wealth and prestige, might have had much more to da with it The worm, naturally, wi no longer theft to Inspire esilfing.. i - Most children with tics and Leo Kanner In "Child Psychology." Psychol-ogy." says there ar no exceptions excep-tions to this show ' other marked evidence of emotional instability. The tie is a mor noticeable symptom. Th healthy, wall balanced child might experiment with habit which gave him momentary eat- lsfaction, but then would be no chronic tic to adverti hi motional tensions. It ia useless to try to end th habit by forbidding It or by impressing im-pressing the child with It. The plea, "Don't blink your eye," will only convince the child that he cannot help himself, since It ia true that h may be unconscious uncon-scious thst he Is doing It. But the child's environment, his treatment by parents, sisters, sis-ters, brothers and playmates, need to be studied and evaluated. For soma reason he feel insecure, inse-cure, he feels "unwanted, unseeded un-seeded and unloved," and the habit spasm la a (ymptom of hi Inner d la trass. Punishment baa no role to play In helping the child to be rid of his tie. Parents will work tactfully to discover If th tie ha any physical motivation (eye strain related to eye-bltak-lng or vitamin deficiency related to reatles motion of arm tor legs) but their greatest rewards will come when they remove th tensions from the ohlld's emotional emo-tional life and thus help him to free himself from the compulsion compul-sion of his useless habit. Our leaflet No, (2, "Nervous Habits," disc usee other habit to which children become victims. vic-tims. It may be had by sending a stamped, ee If -addressed envelope enve-lope with your request to Myrtle Meyer Eldred in car of The Salt Lake Telegram Horn Service Bureau. e |