NURSERY LORE.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXX, Issue 3613, 28 August 1912, Page 8

NURSERY LORE.

A BABY’S TERROR.

FRIGHTENED OF-*—? There is nothing more pitiful than tiic unreasoning fear of a little child. Very many children suffer, in one i-orrrt or another, from the complaint, which is termed “nerves.” That is to «a;/j they are very highly-strung, sensitiveto impressions, timid, or lacking in self-control, or highly imaginative The condition is a physical OJW, very often due to some influence "Much affected the child before birth, if it is allowed to continue w;thcs/> remedy, it will increase and cans great suffering. CLEVER CHILDREN MOST NERVOUS.

Bot-s under the age of twelve aro generally more nervous than girls j girls between the ages of twelve ami eighteen, more nervous than ;*? ysVery bright and clever children are always more prone to nerves tbaa those who conic of an casv-going family which takes life quietiy, and does not care to exercise its brains. 'bo most general signs of nerves arm ug children are:— Violent temper. Unreasonable fear. Restlessness, or awkward tricks and habits, attack the child without visible cause, and pass off quite suddenly, leaving him as well as ever. Fear is, perhaps, the most frequent symptom, Many children are terrified of being left alone in tho tkrit. Others are frightened of animals, cr haunted by the fear of some person who intends to lie quite kind, and cannot at all understand why they shrink from them. Others —though these cases arc rarer—are thrown into a state of absolute panic by a particular sound or smell, or the sight of a given color.

I have heard a baby cf four months old shriek wildly when a doll in a magenta frock was offered to her: arctfter child, a little older, would i*urst into tears at the sound of a pencil squeaking over a slate; while another could not bear the smell of any i-ind of scent, and would fight anc :ry during the whole time of her hat", if she happened to be washed with sc- riled soap.

T:i a case like one of these it is quite useless to scold the child or roar son with him. The only thing to do is to guard him as- much as possible against attacks of fear, and at tho same time to build up his ocxiiiy health, so that lie may have :u:to power ox resistance.