The Childs Day

The Child's Day

The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Child's Day, by Woods Hutchinson This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
Title: The Child's Day
Author: Woods Hutchinson
Release Date: June 11, 2006 [EBook #18559]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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[Illustration: A GOOD SPORT FOR GIRLS AND BOYS]

THE WOODS HUTCHINSON HEALTH SERIES

THE CHILD'S DAY
BY
WOODS HUTCHINSON, A.M., M.D.
Sometime Professor of Anatomy, University of Iowa; Professor of Comparative Pathology and Methods of Science Teaching, University of Buffalo; Lecturer, London Medical Graduates' College and University of London; and State Health Officer of Oregon. Author of "Preventable Diseases," "Conquest of Consumption," "Instinct and Health," and "A Handbook of Health."

HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY BOSTON NEW YORK CHICAGO
COPYRIGHT, 1912, BY WOODS HUTCHINSON

FOREWORD
"If youth only knew, if old age only could!" lamented the philosopher. What is the use, say some, of putting ideas about disease into children's heads and making them fussy about their health and anxious before their time?
Precisely because ideas about disease are far less hurtful than disease itself, and because the period for richest returns from sensible living is childhood--and the earlier the better.
It is abundantly worth while to teach a child how to protect his health and build up his strength; too many of us only begin to take thought of our health when it is too late to do us much good. Almost everything is possible in childhood. The heaviest life handicaps can be fed and played and trained out of existence in a child. Even the most rudimentary knowledge, the simplest and crudest of precautions, in childhood may make all the difference between misery and happiness, success and failure in life.
Our greatest asset for healthful living is that most of the unspoiled instincts, the primitive likes and dislikes, of the child point in the right direction. There is no need to tell children to eat, to play, to sleep, to swim; all that is needed is to point out why they like to do these things, where to stop, what risks to avoid. The simplest and most natural method of doing this has seemed to be that of a sketch of the usual course and activities of a Child's Day, with a running commentary of explanation, and such outlines of our bodily structure and needs as are required to make clear why such and such a course is advisable and such another inadvisable. The greatest problem has been how to reach and hold the interest of the child; and the lion's share of such success as may have been achieved in this regard is due to the co?peration of my sister, Professor Mabel Hutchinson Douglas of Whittier College, California.
THE AUTHOR.

CONTENTS
GOOD MORNING I. Waking Up II. A Good Start III. Bathing and Brushing
BREAKFAST
GOING TO SCHOOL I. Getting Ready II. An Early Romp III. Fresh Air--Why We Need It IV. Fresh Air--How We Breathe It
IN SCHOOL I. Bringing the Fresh Air In II. Hearing and Listening III. Seeing and Reading IV. A Drink of Water V. Little Cooks VI. Tasting and Smelling VII. Talking and Reciting VIII. Thinking and Answering
"ABSENT TO-DAY?" I. Keeping Well II. Some Foes to Fight III. Protecting Our Friends
WORK AND PLAY I. Growing Strong II. Accidents III. The City Beautiful
THE EVENING MEAL
A PLEASANT EVENING
GOOD NIGHT I. Getting Ready for Bed II. The Land of Nod
QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES

THE CHILD'S DAY

GOOD MORNING
I. WAKING UP
If there is anything that we all enjoy, it is waking up on a bright spring morning and seeing the sunlight pouring into the room. You all know the poem beginning,--
"I remember, I remember The house where I was born; The little window where the sun Came peeping in at morn."
You are feeling fresh and rested and happy after your good night's sleep and you are eager to be up and out among the birds and the flowers.
You are perfectly right in being glad to say "Good morning" to the sun, for he is one of the best friends you have. Doesn't he make the flowers blossom, and the trees grow? And he makes the apples redden, too, and the wheat-ears fill out, and the potatoes grow under the ground, and the peas and beans and melons and strawberries and raspberries above it. All these things that feed you and keep you healthy are grown by the heat of the sun. So if it were not for the sunlight we should all starve to death.
While sunlight is pouring down from the sun to the earth, it is warming and cleaning the air, burning up any