Page:Every Woman's Encyclopedia Volume 1.djvu/533

 The cramped miml and the cramped Ixxly are the result of neglected muscular training in youth. The child whose mother recognises the necessity for muscular training never suffers from weak back, spinal curvature, rounfl 509 MEDICAL HEALTH AMD HYGIEHE IN THE NURSERY The Child's Muscles- Physical Culture is Commonly Neglected Until Children Reach the Schco^ Age— The Value of Play— Garden Recreations for Fine Weather— Exercise in the Nursery LJerbert Spencer considered that the first animal." This is especially true of children. The child who is not a good animal in the physical sense is handicapped in the race of life. The boy or girl who is provided with good food, fresh air, and sufficient muscular exercise — the three birthrights of the child — starts life fairly. The food of the child has been already con- sidered ; a later article will deal with fresh air and proper breathing. Meanwhile, the important subject of exercise and the development of the muscles in youth deserves careful study. This is an age which is intensely interested in physical culture. Athletics- and games are national affairs, and physical development is part of every school curriculum. But what of the child before school age ? What of physical education in the nursery ? Fig. 2. The arms held out level with the shoulders shoulders, or muscular debility. The boy who, physically, is well trained has greater mental ability, self-confidence, and independence. The Value of Play In the first place, let the mother realise the Fig. I. Standing erect with finger-tips on shoulders In a sense, the muscles of the young child are gradually educated by Nature without external teaching. The baby who is learning to walk is learning day by day how to co-ordinate his muscles. First, he has to acquire the art of standing. Secondly, with infinite care and many a tumble, the difficult accomplishment of placing one foot before the other alternately must be mastered. The brain is the guiding centre. The different motor areas of the brain are learning to work together. The business gradually becomes auto- matic, and the child at last walks without con- scious effort or exercise of will. In the same way the child's muscles are edu- cated by brick-building, by all the games which he regards as play. The mother, therefore, can do a great deal to further the physical education of the child. She can organise his games. She can devote part ol his play-hour to educating his muscles. Very few people realise the great good derived from regular training of the muscles. Fig. 3. The arms held perpendicularly above the head
 * requisite to success in life is to be " a good