Too Much Attention Injurious
By Mrs. Helen M. Stewart
The truth of the principle expressed in the heading of this article came home to me with particular force during my experience as nurse. I have often said to busy nurses, “Give people a chance to get well.” One little babe I attended was simply being worn out by constant treatment. Baths, temperature, medicine, and injections followed one another in rapid succession, leaving very little time for rest and sleep. I try to avoid this evil with my two little boys, aged three and a half and four and a half years. During the hot weather we are up early in the morning. After breakfast and prayers are over and papa has gone to work, I try to devise some errand for them to do. This brings them into contact with their little friends and neighbors, and sometimes I have two hours without interruption for general housework. Then James usually comes in just to make sure I am here. The long hot afternoons when the little folks must not be exposed to the sun are nearly as difficult to manage as the wet days in winter. We have no delightful barn with hay or corn piles, and other joys. Our trees are not grown enough for shelter yet, and, besides, the insects in the grass are very troublesome. Sometimes I let the children go over to the carpenter shop and play with the gardener’s children, but I cannot watch them there, so I do not like them to be away very long. This afternoon we had one of our summer storms, so we had to stay indoors. It was a great comfort to have the air cooled off. Finally, as an antidote for the fidgets, I suggested the Sabbath blocks, as they had not been in use for a week or two. This kept the boys occupied until nearly supper time. I have felt lately that I ought to devote some time to teaching the little folks their letters, some little verses, etc. I cannot sing a note, so it is not possible to teach them that way, which I really think appeals to children more quickly than any other method. Some of the sisters think it is absurd to think of teaching them anything definite yet. Please advise me what to do. This afternoon as we watched the clouds racing up from the Rio de la Plata, James said, “Los cielos se van!” (The clouds are moving.) So I explained about the clouds and the wind. The children are not at all afraid of thunder and lightning. “La luz” (the light), James calls it. I have been careful that they should not get the idea that there is anything which they need fear.