Evening Republican, Volume 17, Number 27, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 31 January 1913 — Points for Mothers [ARTICLE]

Points for Mothers

Giving Your Child a Book. [•What kind of a book shall father bring you?" a small girl was questioned the other day. “Oh, any book,” came the reply with a happy nonchalance, “aa long as it can be my very own and stay up in my room.” She voiced the craving of every child, says Carolyn Sherwin Bally in the Delineator. Your child needs his very own “five foot” bookshelf which he may grow up with and which will meet the needs of his developing and expanding imagination. But each book that we put on this nursery bookshelf should be selected having In mind what It is going to do for the child. Will it frighten him? Will it hurt his appreciation of beauty by its rude colors and poor art? Will it give him warped, twisted ideas of his world? Rather, will the book that you put total your child’s hands make him happy ? Will its illustrations help him to love good pictures? Will it teach him something? If a child can have only four books it will fie possible to give him between the covers of these four all that he needs in child literature during his earlier years.

One book should be very beautiful pictorially. Every baby loves color, and a good colored picture of one of bls Mother Goose friends, his pet animals, his toys, will be a feast for his soul almost. He should be taught care in handling it, and turning its beautiful pages will be his happy privilege. One book will answer the queries of our dear little “question mark.” It should furnish material to be read to the child to help him understand bls environment. Every child is wonderfully, buoyantly interested in animals and stars and trees and waters and the land of little creatures down under his feet Too often we let his questions in regard to nature phenomena pass unheeded. Let us give him a book that will answer them. Our third book will be a big, magical collection of child stories—those stories that take a child out of himself and into the places of fancy, stories that make children brave, happy, unselfish, good. One more book, a doing one. It will be perhaps more a mother’s book than the child’s, for it will give hints and helps for keeping small hands active, child eyes wider open, child brains busy. It will be a book of games, of suggestions for child hand work, a book of child busymess. With these four books or many books of each of these four classes a child will begin his home education in an efficient, result making way.

Rules For Rearing Babies. Rules for rearing babies, accompanied by the statement that children are not to be regarded as luxuijles by the poor, were given out recently by Mrs. George Herrick of Boston, Who four months ago became the mother of a boy declared by a number of eugenic authorities to be the finest physical specimen that has come within their experience. Mrs. Herrick’s directions are as follows: “Three essentials are fresh air, light clothing and plenty of good nourishment “Society women should forego society’s obligations and nurse their own children. “Every mother should nurse her own child. “Kissing and fondling of baby should not be permitted for one minute. “Don’t toss baby up in the air like a bouncing ball. “One great secret of household economy is making your own and your children’s clothing. “Race suicide is the greatest evil of the day. “The father contributes as much to the health or ill health of a child as the mother.”

The Toys of 1913. Modern toys for children are marvels of Ingenuity. The latest Is a model yacht about three feet long which runs by electricity with a motor and storage battery with a speed of 188 feet per minute. The motor is reversible, and It Is steered from the wheel on the bridge. There are searchlights and running lights, which are operated by a switch. Naturally there are no sails and only one deck. There are two little lifeboats, and on the deck a small velvet seat with three miniature chairs and three wee cushions lend a suggestion of realism. A moving picture machine for home use. sold with an arrangement with the store to exchange the films, Is another scource of unlimited delight to the active child.

Comfort For Baby. Eiderdown flannel bootees for the baby are excellent for very cold weather. They are silk lined with pink or blue and ornamented with a small design In ribbon work. They are hand made and are washable. Bootees for the baby may also be had now made of corduroy, but either of these kinds should be exchanged for something of a lighter weight In a warm room or on mild days. A hot water bottle for the baby to bold and play with, so that its hands may be kept warm, i* dressed as a rabbit doll called "Peter Rabbit.” It bolds one pint of hot water and to priced at sl.