Show mother s duty to protect child from all preventable diseases prepared by t s bureau U S Depa vinent ot of labor there tire about children in an tills this country under ivo five yours years of age according to tile alio united census of 1010 this means that the lie principal business of many millions of grown people Is the providing of 0 ilia feces t of life for ahti armity aricy of children till nil of whom tire absolutely dependent upon their riders elders for ilia alio materials of growth for and whatever else they need to feed fecil to clothe to warm to house protect and curo for f 0 r this multitude of tho citizens of tomorrow Is a gigantic task and the do devotion and self it implies can never bo be stated nor measured it Is however a service which brings its own reward anti especially when children proceed from a healthy babyhood into it a happy childhood and on oil through youth into a normal maturity tile tho lending leading medical writers aro are insisting that many of the illnesses weaknesses and acs alch which impose so KO heavy A burden upon tile human race have their root in troubles of this early period of life in the lack of persistent and painstaking attention to the signs of disorders when they appear to lack of proper food for the development of strong bodies or to tho the attacks of preventable disease lending leading to various deformities weaknesses defects or chronic illnesses in older persons it Is of tho the greatest importance to the rearing of n race of healthy and happy men mea and women that parents shall como come to realize that it Is upon tile foundations which are laid in the early v months and years of childhood that the superstructure of solid adult health rests parents roust must therefore strive not only to provide children with the plain necessities for comfortable living but also to surround them with constant intelligent care and oversight a task which parents oftentimes flud find much hardter if we ive lind had only known what to do Is the despairing cry of saddened mothers tile world over one of the hopeful signs of tills this present time Is tho the growing recognition of the fact net that child coro care la Is a subject worthy of tile highest and most persistent study another Is tho ilia constant multiplication of the sources of information which anro a re available to parents in books and F magazines by public lectures und and by nurses and doctors ono one of the most pernicious of the bluer ideas regarding sickness was the fatalistic assumption that certain diseases must be had by every one and annu therefore children might as we aeu ll 11 have them early and be done with it this idea has led many mothers deliberately to expose their young children to such diseases as chickenpox chicken pox measles whooping cough and the like and has had many deplorable results not the least of which Is the indefinite spread und and prolongation of the common contagious diseases there tire are few communities muni ties if any in which one or another of these diseases Is not constantly appearing and probably none where they have disappeared entirely it must be remembered that serious aind prolonged illness Is always A detriment to children growth Is the great business of childhood and a normal healthy growth should proceed in orderly fashion day by day without cessation but if a must give a few days or ft a few weeks now and then to tin nn illness in the course of which ito ho suffers from fever palti pain or a debilitating bili tating cough or tin nn irritation of the sidn or a sore and swollen throat or nn an aching ear car it may lie be normal development will bo be interfered with fur or tho the time being ervn if the lie childs life Is saved na AS it too often Is not the net results of such conditions including often complications of differing degrees of severity cannot by tiny any stretch of tile tho imagination ile ho considered beep to him when to nil this Is 19 added tile hie work anil and worry of gie tic moth her sleepless nights and anxious days und mid to put it on oil tho the lowest plane the cost of doctors and possibly nurses anti medicines tile the suin total of tho the cost of tilt the common diseases of childhood Is past calculation tile the wise mother abreast of tho the current of modern scientific thought strives shines to keep her children well she does not permit them to surfer suffer front from it single hour of thit it Is possible for the theato into avold in this effort sho she does docs not allo allow them to play piny with children who are coughing and sneezing she does docs riot not allow them to go to the houses of sick children nor to attend public gatherings of any sort give baby a drink of cool water several era times a day in summer when the more dangerous con diseases are about on oil tile the other land hand sho she remembers that slie she lias has a duty to nil all other ather children of the neighborhood and if her own child li Is ailing she isolates him until tile tho nature of ills his illness is determined and strides by every means in her power to the danger for other children when V han more mothers thus make themselves morally responsible for the lives and health of all the children we shall have the beginning of the end of the spread of the contagious diseases A periodic examination of all children by physicians would do much to prevent the development of ninny many weaknesses and defects or to secure their early and more hopeful treatment this Is practically secured for babies la in tho the infant welfare stations now in operation in ninny many cities of this country it Is secured to a limited extent in the medical examination of school children also but too little attention la is commonly paid to the children of the preschool pre school age who ore anre no longer babies anti yet are hardly more able to do without care than babies it la Is to these children of the neglected ago age that mothers are now turning their atte attention Alou and interest particularly A baby week campaign will have many good results but none more ta iro than bringing to light many childred childr er who need care of some special urt and showing mother mothe r liow how better to meet this demand upon their resources of knowledge and wisdom |