Chapter III: Part 3

See a settler going into an unsettled country and beginning the construction of a farm. Watch him build his cabin, clear the land, break the virgin soil and put in the crops. See the development of the home, the well, the fences, barn, sheds, enlargement of fields, bringing on of stock, the harvesting of crops, building of greater barns, the new home, settling of the community. Continue the development of the farm as much in detail and as far as you can.

The Farmer and His Crop

Visualize the first breaking of the field in the spring, the preparation of the soil for sowing, bringing of the seed corn from winter storage, the planting, cultivating, and growth of the crop. Watch the ripening, the cutting, shocking, husking, hauling and storing into barns.

Now follow the corn to the mill and through the processes of manufacture until it arrives on the table as corn flakes, syrup or corn bread.

Do this with the other crops. Follow the wheat until it is bread. The buckwheat to the steaming hot cakes. The same can be done with the stock on stock farms. The different kinds of farming can be used for variety. The great wheat farms present different pictures from the usual diversified ones.

The fruit orchard presents an interesting picture to work with. The spraying, the cultivating, irrigating, and all the process from the blossoming to the picking, sorting, packing, transportation and sale.

This same plan can be followed with all industries and manufacture of any article. Take the ore from the mine to the steel in the building or battleship. The oil from the well to gasoline in the auto tank. The automobile from metal, wood, leather and rubber to the picnic in the woods.

The Growing Plant

To visualize the growth of a seed or plant is interesting and helpful. Prepare the soil, plant the seed, see the little hair roots start out from the seed, the first green sprout, the breaking of the soil, the gradual growth, the leafing, branching, budding, and flowering. Hold your mind upon all pictures which you are visualizing. Direct it consciously, do not let it wander. Use motion, color, vividness of detail, everything that will aid concentration.

For this exercise younger children can use the making of a kite, building of a sand castle or doll house; a Hallowe'en party; a trip to the woods. Let him start with the well-known and familiar and lead him up to the unknown, which will develop a desire upon his part for more definite knowledge of the subject.

The chief factor in observation and in acquiring knowledge is Attention and Concentration. These can be produced by curiosity and the desire to excel, which is found in the love of competition and the game spirit. A good example of concentration is found in the juggler or acrobat on the vaudeville stage or in the circus. The ability to concentrate will grow with the doing of the exercises and playing games such as are mentioned here.

Any exercises or games which will result in improved ability to concentrate and pay attention are valuable. Play the games with the child, use any method or idea which suggests itself if it gets results. Give the child a conscious realization of the possession and value of this power. See to it that he continues to develop it.

THE IMAGINATION

Even in the simple exercises for the development of the senses you have been continuously required to draw upon the child's imagination. Most children are blessed with a vivid, active imagination and use it continuously in their play and self-entertainment. The reason that this wonderful faculty is so useless to the average adult is largely caused by a misunderstanding of the faculty on the part of the parent and perhaps the teacher.

=Imagination is the reproduction, in mental images, of those
sensations which have previously been experienced.=

Most children use both reproductive and the productive imagination easily. There is, however, considerable difference in the amount of use and benefit which they derive from it.

=Reproductive imagination is reproducing the literal copy of the
sensations.=

=Productive imagination is the forming of a new image made up of
elements from previous images.=

There is natural individuality in imagination and a difference in method and in inclination to use the faculty. Some children reproduce vivid images which are to them real and impressive and by the use of which they amuse themselves for hours. Others reproduce indistinct images which have no attractiveness, are dim, uncertain, and of little value or consequence.

Do not expect the imagination of two children necessarily to operate in the same way, and above all, do not insist upon the same results. If you wish to know what the difference is in this faculty of visual reproduction you can use some definite test, such as the one following.

Test for Visual Reproduction

The Preparation--Take particular care in the arrangement of the breakfast table in certain known order, so that you will later be able to know exactly what was on it and where it stood. Put on the table some article of distinct color. If there is any question of your being able to check accurately the arrangement leave the table as it is for an hour or so after the meal.

The Test--Some time after the family have left the table, not less than an hour and preferably longer, ask each child separately, and not in the hearing of the others, how the breakfast table looked that morning. Let the child tell in detail what he can of the appearance of the table, or if old enough let each write a description. The ease with which this is done, the amount of definiteness displayed, and the vividness with which the child reproduces the table will be an accurate indication of the quality of images used in his imagination.

A Universally Useful Faculty

Some have held the notion that imagination is a faculty useful only to actors, artists or poets. This is untrue. Some parents have discouraged and even killed the imaginative faculty in their children, because they did not wish them to follow either of the above professions.

Your child will be the greatest credit and satisfaction to you if he becomes that for which his natural endowment and inclination is strongest. It is a great mistake for parents to drive a child to grow up according to some previously conceived plan or professional choice of their own. Parental wisdom and duty are to find out what the child is especially endowed for and to guide him in taking advantage of these natural gifts, and at the same time inducing a general development in other lines.

Because of past misunderstanding or lack of understanding of its importance in every line of effort, including science, engineering, and every business development, many parents have discouraged their children in the use of their imagination. Every leader in commercial and industrial life is a man who has learned to use this faculty. Without it he could not make great progress. Other men as brilliant as he have lagged behind because they have never cultivated their imagination or allowed themselves to be led by it. You should do everything possible to encourage and to guide your children in the conscious use of this faculty.

Children's Falsehoods

Many parents are distressed because of the tendency on the part of young children to tell untruths, "stories" about what they have seen or heard. This tendency is more marked in some children and occurs in the younger years before the senses and faculties are thoroughly under control. There is nothing dangerous about this, it is more often than not the result of a vivid imagination in which the visualizations appear real. The fusion of ideas and illusions sometimes cause the story to be "so awful."

In most cases the child will outgrow this tendency and if carefully and wisely watched over nothing detrimental will come of it. It is an indication of a strong imaginative faculty which, if guided and trained, will later be of immense value to him. Children who have a tendency to this "story telling" should not be punished for it. They should be given to understand that these are imaginary stories and should not be told as the truth. They will, of course, appear real to the child, but he will gradually learn to distinguish between the real and the imaginary.

Two children, both with vivid imaginations, were allowed and encouraged in telling all kinds of imaginary stories, and playing imaginary games, but were taught to discriminate between these and the truth by the use of the word "really." If one began to wonder if the things the other was telling were true and actually happened, he would ask, "Was it really, sister?" "Oh, no, not really," was the reply, and the game or story proceeded. In this way the children developed the faculty and were taught to respect the truth.

Reality of Illusions

There may be many individual peculiarities about your child's imagination and his "story telling inclination," but these should not induce you to be severe or to forbid them unless you have studied the subject of the imagination carefully, or secured competent advice.

You attend the entertainment of a magician, and during the whole evening your senses are deceived. The magician uses the inclination of the mind to illusions in making his tricks possible. He throws a ball into the air a couple of feet and catches it. Then he throws it higher and does the same several times, the last time he goes through the same motion without the ball and nine-tenths of the audience will swear that they saw it actually disappear in the air. If we with years of experience in sensation and thought are so easily deceived can you justly punish a child for yielding to the same mental tendencies?

Imagination a Curse or Blessing

All normal children possess the faculty and its use will bring them blessing and success if properly guided. The direct opposite is true. If the child is allowed to form the habit of using his imagination carelessly and negatively it will be harmful to an extreme degree.

Positive imagination which suggests happy, cheerful and successful thoughts and actions should be praised and encouraged.

Negative imagination which suggests danger, accident, sickness, loss and failure, should be discouraged and immediately replaced by thoughts which are positive in quality. Imagination allowed to dwell upon morbid, revengeful, ethically forbidden, or immoral ideas is harmful physically as well as morally. "He who has imagined an action 'has committed it in his heart.'"

=There is no greater truth than--"As a man thinketh in his heart
so is he."=

Imagination is the fountain head of thought and therefore the source of words, action, personality and character. Help your child to control the whole trend of his life by carefully governing the operations of his imagination.

Dissipating the Imagination

Here is a danger point, "Day dreaming, idle flights of imagination, building air castles are of little value, and dangerous in that they tend to develop the habit." If indulged in to excess they constitute a foolish waste of time. Occasional flights of this kind should not be dealt with harshly, but any tendency to persist in them should be stopped.

Reading of books which are wild flights of imagination often constitute a harmless form of recreation for persons who are confined for long hours at routine work, or engaged in hard physical labor. Children do not need this extreme class of reading and should not be allowed to indulge in much of it.

Exercises for the Imagination

First strive for clearness in the reproduction and ability to keep the images separate. The reproduction of letters and figures in the exercises for visualization on page 46 will accomplish this result.

Problems in mental arithmetic, if visualized, are of great value in that the correct solving of them requires vivid and separate images. Work for fullness of detail, the picture frame suggested on page 74 offers an excellent opportunity to do this while exercising the constructive imagination. While fixing the attention upon the square you keep the element of change going by use of the imagination in picture making. Put into this picture all the detail possible, add everything you can think of and then strive to create still more.

The Story Games

Read the child a story or description of some well-known object, then have him tell it as nearly as he can reproduce it. Now have him tell it again and add every bit of detail, every new circumstance and condition which he can create for himself.

Read half of a story to the child and have him go on from where you leave off, making his own imaginary ending for it. Then read the conclusion to show him how the author's imagination differed from his.

Most of the exercises and games given for the development of Visualization and Attention call the imagination into action. These three faculties are so closely related that they can not be treated entirely separate. Any exercise previously given for the first two will develop the imagination as well.

These faculties of Visualization, Attention and Imagination combine in the operation of the great faculty of Memory, which is to be the subject of the Second Book. Exercises given there will result in further development of the imagination.

The Game of Creation

Prof. Gates is credited with being the first to use the following idea for guiding the constructive imagination in producing new ideas. He has in the past few years used it so effectively that there are more than one hundred articles now manufactured under the protection of patents by the United States Government, and scores of others are being perfected.

Make a list of all the things in the room, then select one object and combine it with the rest of the list and see how many new ideas will result. This is using the constructive imagination, creating a new whole from familiar parts. Example--

Floor, table, ceiling, wall, window, glass, casing, frame, stove, pipe, damper, oilcloth, cover, rug, boards, paint, plaster, paper, picture, frame, bench, chair, couch, morris chair, curtain, rod, lace, book, paper, magazine, Victrola, plant, flag, etc.

Select table, and by combining it with the other objects we will see how some new combinations have been created, and perhaps we will create some ourselves.

Table--wall, suggests a table disappearing into the wall, as used
in small apartments.

Table--oilcloth, a common article.

Table--cover, also common.

Table--rug, Oriental rugs are often used for table covers.

Table--boards, the extension dining table.

Table--chair, the combination used in dairy lunches.

Table--book, the library table.

Table--Victrola, a combination manufactured by the Columbia
Company.

Table--flag, suggests the flag as a table cover.

The longer the list the greater the possibility of finding some new and useful idea. Business men use this idea constructively. Woolworth combined the 5c and store, and made his fortune. Ingersol combined the Dollar and Watch. A boat, paddles, and a steam engine resulted in the first steamboat.

There is no limit to the illustration, it is everywhere apparent and in many things that you use. Every new invention or short-cut in business will result from a new combination of existing concepts. We are now manufacturing alcohol from sawdust, rubber from wheat. When shall we stop?

Play this game with the children. They will enjoy it and learn how progress has been made and gain new and valuable ideas. An active lad was confined to the house with a broken leg. His mother started him playing this game and by its use he has discovered many new games. This time it suggested kite--window, and soon, with the assistance of a neighbor boy, he was flying his kite out of a window.

The Picture Gallery

In the great home of the mind there is a room of unusual importance which can be known as the picture gallery. Here the great artist Imagination hangs the products of his efforts. Picture after picture is painted by this wonderful faculty and hung in this gallery. Each of these pictures becomes a force exerted upon the individual in whose mind it is hung. Thought and Desire wander in this gallery incessantly, and gaze upon the pictures there, using them as patterns for their efforts in future. From these pictures they get their incentive and inspiration.

The young child's picture gallery is a wonderful room with clean, white walls waiting for the artist to take up the task of painting and hanging the pictures. This artist is young and inexperienced and easily influenced and guided by one older and more accurate.

The parents should realize that this gallery is going to be rapidly filled with pictures, and that the choice of these pictures can be almost entirely under their control. You can help your child's imagination paint clean, wholesome pictures that will result in helpful and constructive influence upon his life. But remember that these pictures ARE BEING HUNG, whether YOU take time to help in the work or not.

If the pictures are negative in influence, or those suggested by wrong companions and vulgar thoughts, the result will show itself sometime in the future. The life will sooner or later reproduce these pictures in personal character and action.

Pictures which are objectionable can be replaced, or covered over by attractive ones, which will be helpful and lead Thought into right paths and create Desire that will be a future blessing. Remember, it is far more difficult to replace a negative picture than to paint a helpful one before the other has made its impression. It is very important that you place your picture first.

Imagination is the architect and his plans are hung upon the walls of this picture gallery, where other faculties use them for building the character and personality of the child. His future circumstances, success, or failure, will be the result of this law of nature. The contents of this picture gallery are great and powerful causes which help bring about the desired result.

If this truth can be sufficiently impressed upon the mind of parent and child, both will co-operate in an effort to hang the right kind of pictures in the gallery and the result will be a finer and more successful life.

Every parent should make it a duty to hang in this gallery beautiful pictures of all the ideals which they wish to see fulfilled by their child. Besides the ideals of growth, character, purity, etc., there should be such pictures as a home; a life of useful service; financial independence, and a happy old age. The details are a matter of individual choice and should be filled in as the years pass by the growing understanding and ambition of the child.

THE POWER OF SUGGESTION

Everything that the child experiences exerts an influence upon his future. It suggests a tendency to thought or action. Once the thought or act is indulged in, it has started the formation of habit. One act will not create a habit, but one act will tend to induce the child to act again in the same manner rather than go contrary to it or to vary the method. Repeated action forms a habit, for habit is defined as a tendency of the mind to do again what it has done before.

Habits, of course, vary in their strength, but you must realize the importance of the fact that the first repetitions are the important factors, because they are the habit's beginning. If the child's tendency is wrong do not delay changing it. Tomorrow may be too late. There is no certain age at which child training should begin. It is never too soon. The earlier you begin the easier it will be, and the more pleasure and satisfaction you will derive from your children.

The story is told of an anxious parent who went with a six-year child to the Bishop. The mother told at great length of the difficulty she was having with the child and asked what the proper age was to begin training him. The Bishop's reply was: "My dear woman, you are six years late."

Parents who procrastinate or delay correcting wrong tendencies and instilling right ones because "the child is too young to know better," or "it's too soon to train him yet," will awaken to find that they have formed a wrong habit and that the child will soon be trying to train and rule them.

There is no method of child training as helpful as that of Suggestion. Inducing the child by directly spoken words to think and believe that he is, and that he does, what you wish him to be and to do. This is known as Direct Suggestion. This is the most difficult form to use, as it may arouse antagonism, in which case no favorable result will be secured. It is better to postpone the use of Direct Suggestion until some time when you can sit down quietly and talk to the child, holding him in your lap and first preparing his mind by story or quiet talk of positive and constructive nature. Then make the Direct Suggestion in a clear, definite statement. Do not stop to argue or to impress the suggestion by moralizing. Prepare the soil of the child's mind, plant the seed (the Direct Suggestion), cover it over and leave it to germinate there. You do this by once clearly stating the ideal and then passing on to some other talk or story. Do not allow the child to argue the statement of the Suggestion. This is fatal to its germination. Have him in a passive mood in which he is listening to all that you say, and after you have given the Direct Suggestion and planted the seed, pass on to something else before he starts a train of contrary thoughts in his mind.

If he resists and denies your statement before you can lead his mind on, the soil was not properly prepared. Do not be discouraged, try again. Never be discouraged or give up, if you expect to gain results by the use of Suggestion.

After you have succeeded in planting this seed-thought in the child's mind, cultivate it. Do not neglect it, but return to it and emphasize the thought at another time, and gradually induce him to think of it in a positive manner. Tell an imaginary story which depicts the positive side of your seed-thought, and let him know it is of him you are thinking.

Always be positive--never negative. Always state the thing you want as it =now= is. Make it present tense--not even future. In suggestion there is no place for don't, can't or any other negative statement. Do not refer to the negative condition which you are striving to overcome. Do not say, "Your headache is better." Leave out the headache and say only, "You are better." A transitory term as--is becoming, or a future term as--you will be, or a questionable effort as--try to do, should not be used. Make your statement always positive, present tense, and completed. As for example: "This is mama's big, strong boy." "My boy always tells the truth." "My boy is strong and he is always kind." "John is a gentleman, he is kind to his sister." "Sarah loves her kitty and is kind and gentle with it."

The story of the Scotch wife will illustrate the effect of making negative statements. The husband was starting off on Saturday night to the village. John had a weakness, and knowing this the wife stood on the doorstep calling after him, "John, don't go near the saloon." "John, don't go near the saloon." "John, don't go near the saloon." With the best of intentions she kept repeating this as long as she could make him hear. John needed help, but if you will stop to think a moment you will see that the wife had continuously impressed upon his mind "the saloon," and, true to her fears, John returned home at a very late hour and in a sad condition.

Suggestion to be of value must get beyond the critical and analytical activity of the conscious mind and become placed in the sub-conscious. If the conscious mind denies the statement, either audibly or to itself, the sub-conscious is not influenced. The most profitable time to plant these positive seed-thoughts is just before the child "drops off to sleep."

The sub-conscious mind, which is influenced by the suggestion, never rests. It is the mind which controls the breathing, heart beat and other "sub-conscious action" of the body. It is working all the night through. If you fall asleep thinking in happy anticipation of some pleasure tomorrow you will awaken in the same happy, buoyant condition of mind. Often you have to think a moment to ascertain the reason for your happy mental condition, then you remember, "This is the day of the picnic." This shows how the sub-conscious has retained all through the night the thought which was placed there just before the conscious mind sleeps.

Take advantage of this fact and strive to place a positive, constructive thought upon the sub-conscious mind of your child just before sleep. It will be held and built into character and physical development all through the night.

Indirect Suggestion

This method is usually most effective because it is applied at times and in a manner which tends to overcome any tendency to negative influence of the conscious mind. All have seen the pitifully bashful child whose mother takes every opportunity to tell the visitors, =in the child's hearing=, how bashful she is. To the child she says: "My, you are the most bashful child I ever saw." The former statement made to the visitor, is a negative indirect suggestion; the latter, the statement to the child, is negative Direct Suggestion. Both of these tend to increase the child's bashfulness. They will never overcome it.

Indirect Positive Suggestions

Two parents are sitting in a living room talking; the child is playing in the next room, or even on the floor of this one. Without paying any attention and with the apparent intention of the child not hearing, the mother, in an undertone, says to the father: "Have you noticed how improved Sarah is of late; she is kind and thoughtful of her kitty, she loves it more and is so kind and gentle with it?" Father replies: "Isn't that nice; she is a dear, kind, gentle child." The parents go on talking about other things not noticing the little girl.

If you were where you could observe you would see the child stop her play at the mention of her name, listening intently, and thinking about what has been said. Most likely she would find her kitty and come back loving it and demonstrating the result of mother's suggestion.

This indirect method of sowing seed-thoughts is most effective, and will correct errors and form right habits and character, much more rapidly than correction, argument, or punishment. The possibilities of the use of suggestions in child training are limitless. There are many cases where miraculous results have been secured by intelligent, devoted mothers.

In the matter of health and overcoming of detrimental habits there is no greater power than that of positive Suggestion intelligently used. Every up-to-date and thoroughly progressive physician realizes the power of the positive thought over the human body. During the epidemic of Influenza which swept through the Army Camps where the boys were being trained for overseas service, all the available ministers were called into a large hospital to minister to the sick and dying. Before being allowed to go among the sick soldiers they were gathered together and given a talk by one of the head surgeons. One of the instructions was this: In all talking with the sick there must not, under any circumstances, be any mention or reference to death, the possibility of death, or of any condition after death. Every thought and word must be of health, recovery and what they are going to do after recovery. This must be followed in conversation, letter writing for the sick, and in prayer with them. This is an example of the modern acceptance of the value of positive suggestion in cases of sickness.

In matters of Child Training it is of the utmost value. Dr. Stanley Krebbs, in his book, "The Law of Suggestion," which every parent should read, tells many interesting examples of its use. "A little girl had formed the habit of telling lies in order to attract attention. When this fact was learned it was made the key of her recovery. It was lodged in her mind that her lies caused people to avoid her, to dislike her; but that if she were truthful she would make people like her, would make friends and attract a great deal more attention than in any other way. Simple! but successful."

Quoting again from Dr. Krebbs, "Take an extreme case, Belford Russell Lawrence, the boy criminal, testified at twelve years of age, that among other things, his mother had often said to neighbors, referring to him: 'That devil will hang yet.'

"As a general rule children are what their elders expect them to be.

"As a general rule we adults are what our fellows expect us to be."

The story is told of a boy who was no student and hated school, he even disliked to read. One time when there were guests at dinner there arose a discussion of a certain point of history. The boy had just studied this fact in school and was able to set the entire group right. On several occasions later his mother repeated this fact to friends, in the boy's hearing, always ending with the statement: "You know Johnny is quite a historian." Up to that time he had had no interest in the study, but believing that others considered him an authority on the subject he got busy and studied up on it. He afterward became a historian and a professor in one of the large universities. He just had to make good, to keep up with his mother's expectation, and he did.

Take every opportunity to tell others about the good points of your children and the characteristics that you want them to have. Do this when the children can hear you. Tell it to others and the child will not disappoint you.

The subject should be studied by every parent. There is no attempt made to cover it in these pages, but merely to give a hint of its possibilities in the hope that the parent will learn to use this power constructively and wisely.

HEALTH HABITS

Habits are a great part of life. The forming of proper ones should have more attention than is usually given to them. Habits is a tendency of mind to do that which it has done before. When considered in this simple way habit becomes one of the great forces in our lives. It is by taking advantage of this fact that we are able to develop rapidity and efficiency in movement. This shows itself in playing games or musical instruments and in later life in the operation of machines in office and factory.

Every child begins to form habits with his first actions. He has his individual way of dressing, which is simply the result of having repeated this method several times. Each repetition adds to the strength of the habit.

To correct a habit it will be necessary for you to suggest a new method and see to it that it is repeated a sufficient number of times to become the stronger tendency. No habit is or can be formed without the element of repetition.

Realizing that children are forming habits which will follow them through life should suggest to the parent the importance of consciously guiding the child in their formation. Do not allow careless, inefficient, dawdling methods to become fixed. Of course, these may in later years be changed to more efficient methods by the child himself, but it will be at the expense of considerable effort and loss of time. On the other hand, many children will not correct the habits and will be handicapped by them all through life.

There are certain simple regulations of health that are of vital importance to the life success of every one and the parent should attend to their becoming habits while the child is small.

Mental efficiency and accuracy are quickly influenced by bodily conditions. Poor health or physical inability are never accompanied with 100% mental efficiency. You may at once think of some examples of men of high mental caliber who were deficient and handicapped by physical disability. This is sometimes the case, but it is an exception, and an illustration of success won, in spite of difficulty. Think of what such an indomitable spirit could have accomplished in a more perfect physical body.

Deep Breathing

One of the strong influences on health is that of purifying the blood in the lungs. Plenty of fresh air is necessary for this purifying, and insufficient or impure air supply in the lungs will send the blood back to the heart only partially cleansed.

Teach the child to stand erect, to consider his position when sitting, and at all times to demand fresh air. Do not be afraid of an open window, always have good ventilation, especially in sleeping rooms. Give the child a simple exercise for deep breathing and help him to use it until he has formed the habit of taking several deep breaths of fresh air immediately upon arising in the morning; each time he goes out of a building into the open air; and many times during the day. Singing, running, skipping, jumping rope, etc., are all good exercises to stimulate deep breathing. See to it that the child breathes through the nose.

Drinking Water

Many chronic troubles result from the simple neglect to supply the body with sufficient water. An average grown person should have two quarts of water a day and more in warmer weather. The lack of any habitual time for drinking this water usually results in not getting it at all. Continued disregard of the craving of the body for water, because "it is not convenient to get it" at the time, will result in the cessation of this natural demand. Many persons have said, "I don't require that much water; I never drink but a glass or two." Inquiry will reveal the fact that these persons are usually sufferers from constipation or some other chronic trouble. Drinking a proper amount of water will cure many cases of constipation.

To be sure that the child gets sufficient water adopt some systematic time for drinking. A glass before meals is beneficial to digestion. It stimulates the flow of the digestive juices. Drinking during meals is not injurious under one condition, that is that no water is taken while you have any food in the mouth. Clear the mouth of food and then drink, do not wash your food down. Be careful not to take cold water soon after eating hot food, there is danger of cracking the enamel of the teeth. A habit should be formed of drinking a glass of water when washing in the morning; wash the stomach as well as the face and hands.

An average meal requires moisture equal to about five glasses. This is drawn from the system if not supplied with the meal. A glass of water before and one after each meal is an aid to digestion rather than a detriment. Make this a habit. It is a convenient time to furnish the amount of water required by the body, and more than the two glasses is better than less.

If the child is troubled with constipation or an approach to it see to it that he gets a copious supply of water and you will find the trouble relieved.

Rest and Sleep

As long as you can continue the practice do not allow the children to get "too old" for an afternoon rest. Even if he can not sleep, to lie down and relax will be of very definite value to health and bodily resistance of disease. If you are encouraging the cultivation of "the silence" and periods of constructive thought this can be combined with the rest period.

Rest and relaxation should be synonymous. To be able to relax thoroughly is of great value in the strenuous years of later life and should be cultivated and become habitual when young. In order that the child's sleep shall be of utmost value teach him to practice relaxation upon lying down and always doing so before falling asleep. This, coupled with a positive mental attitude, will make his sleep most profitable.

Never allow the child to go to sleep in anger or fright. Take time to change all negative mental conditions to positive ones before you leave him. Unless unavoidable he should not be punished before retiring. The mental attitude in which he falls asleep will continue through the night. Experiments have proven that fear, worry, hate, etc., produce an actual poison in the blood and it affects the bodily condition, of course. Blood taken from a man while in a fit of anger and injected into a rabbit will kill the rabbit almost immediately. These facts are not new but they need to be taken more into consideration in training children.

Thinking Health

There is no doubt in anyone's mind in these days that conditions of mind influence conditions of the body. Positive and constructive thinking will aid health. Your study of the subject of suggestion shows this to be true and the results are beyond doubt.

In cases of sickness suggestion will be found of great help. To suggest that the child will be "better in the morning"; to suggest that he "is better, he looks better, he acts better," etc. All these positive thoughts are helpful. This is a deep subject and parents should give it some careful thought and investigation.

In cases of epidemics do not allow the child to think that he must be taken by it. Suggest the opposite and induce him to think that he is not going to be sick, this mixed with a generous amount of common sense in general health conditions and reasonable caution will prove helpful to say the least.

All of these subjects together with those of foods and right eating, which are very important, have been thoroughly covered by many experts and should have the careful attention of parents. Use the best methods possible to improve the child's physical condition, which will in turn increase his mental efficiency.

Unusual conditions of mind or body which are not understood by the parent should not be allowed to "drift along" or to see if "they may not be outgrown." Seek the advice of a reputable physician and save the possibility of regret.

That, "A stitch in time saves nine" is doubly true of a child's health.

Ambition Pulls

From his earliest years your child is shaping his career. What he does today wields a strong influence on what he will do tomorrow. The sooner you realize this the better his chances of final success.

Ambition is a great impelling force, encourage its development in your children. With strong ambition they can get farther than with greater ability but lacking in ambition.

A boy sat on a fence holding a kite but not watching it as boys usually do. A gentleman, in passing, was attracted to the boy and noticed that he was blind. This aroused his curiosity as to what pleasure a blind boy could get flying a kite, so he asked him: "Do you enjoy flying the kite?" "Yes, sir," was the prompt reply. "But you cannot see it." "No, sir; but say, mister, I can feel 'er pull."

So is ambition, you can't see it, but "you can feel 'er pull."

TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES:

Italicized words are surrounded with underscores: _italics_
Emboldened words are surrounded with equals signs: =bold=

There are inconsistencies in the Table of Contents regarding chapters
and sections. The Table of Contents is presented as it appears in the
original.

Obvious spelling and punctuation errors have been standardized.