| OCR Text |
Show Are They Ready For School? With the opening of a new school year in September our thought naturally nat-urally turns to the health of the young children who will begin their school career. The number of children chil-dren entering school with corrective correct-ive physical defects, faulty health habits and other causes responsible for poor classroom work should stimulate parents to see that their children's health condition is satisfactory satis-factory when they trip off to answer the first school bell. The problem is more than just the correction cor-rection of abnormal conditions a few months before school begins; it is the problem of health supervision from the earliest moment of life. With adequate prenatal care and thorough medical supervision during infancy children two years of age should be free from preventable health handicap. That means that they are in good nutrition, are immunized im-munized against smallpox and diphtheria, diph-theria, have sound teeth, sleep and nap regularly, eat plenty of the right kind of food and play happily and vigorously out of doors in the sunshine. Our big job during the next few years is to capitalize on this excellent ex-cellent start by bringing him up to school age in such condition that there is not the anxiety and need for hurried correction of defects. The point to bear in mind during this intervening period between infancy in-fancy and school age are, that: Each child has his physical examination ex-amination every 6 months (at least once each year) or as often as his doctor advises. If he is not already immunized against diphtheria and vaccinated against smallpox, this should be done immediately. Your physician may suggest vaccination for typhoid especially if the water and milk are not known to be safe. His regular health habit regime is continued. He still sleeps and naps regularly, continues to enjoy his meals, relishes food which is good I I for him, and welcomes the whole- some outdoor play and companionship companion-ship of other children. He has prompt and adequate medical attention during illness. His environment is controlled to prevent harmful influences from effecting ef-fecting his development, such as faulty heating and ventilation of the home, prevention of needless exposure ex-posure to infections (common colds included) . etc. He visits his dentist regularly and has any dental work needed done promptly. The health examination by the family physician just before he en- ters school should find the child free from remediable defects. If, however, his parents have neglected his regular health supervision and also neglected to correct his faulty health conditions, the preschool examination ex-amination should receive special attention. at-tention. Investigation of the condition con-dition of the eyes and ears (including (includ-ing vision and hearing), nose and throat, teeth, heart, lungs, posture, bone, feet, and general nutrition are a few of the more important items to be noted. The next step is the correction immediately of all abnormalities discovered in this preschool examination. exami-nation. This should be aone several months before the child goes to school. The wise parent who has followed this protective health procedure pro-cedure will realize that health supervision sup-ervision does not end with the preschool pre-school period but continues throughout the school years. The child who has the advantages of such a regime will enter manhood and womanhood better equippea physically to meet the problems of adult life. |
