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Show PROPER DEGREE OF NEGLECT Sometimes Hard, Even for the Wisest Mother, to Know When to Draw the Line. " "Wholesome' neglect is about the best kind of care a child can receive," she said. . "And my children have all had plenty of it!" . The other mother was so impressed by the words of the mother of seven healthy children that she actually began be-gan to practice a little bit of "wholesome" "whole-some" neglect with her own ewe lamb. One day the little girl came running to her with a cut finger. Formerly that mother would have called in a physician to bind up the cut. But having hav-ing decided to make use of "wholesome" "whole-some" neglect, she merely took out her handkerchief, wrapped it around the child's finger, dried her tears, and told her to run back and play. The mother of the seven children happened to be present. When the little girl had run away she said to the other mother, "That is a very dangerous dan-gerous way to treat a cut. Do you usually follow that practice?" "No," replied the other mother; "I usually send for the doctor. But I am following your example, and using 'wholesome' neglect." The other mother meditated a moment, mo-ment, and then she said, "It is not necessary, I think, to call In a doctor when a child cuts her finger; but to bind it up with a handkerchief that has been carried even for a few hours, exposed to dust, and not to cleanse the finger thoroughly before binding it up at all, seems to me, if I may say so, to be not 'wholesome' but "unwholesome' "un-wholesome' neglect. So many persons," per-sons," she went on, "confuse 'wholesome' 'whole-some' with 'unwholesome' neglect. I don't blame them at all; it is hard always to know the one from the other!" Home Progressiva Magazine. |