Diet in Childhood
187
Cause of Irritability and Nervousness
361. Regularity should be the rule in all the habits of children.
Mothers make a great mistake in permitting them to eat between meals.
The stomach becomes deranged by this practice, and the foundation
is laid for future suffering. Their fretfulness may have been caused
by unwholesome food, still undigested; but the mother feels that she
cannot spend time to reason upon the matter, and correct her injurious
management. Neither can she stop to soothe their impatient worrying.
She gives the little sufferers a piece of cake or some other dainty to
quiet them, but this only increases the evil. Some mothers, in their
anxiety to do a great amount of work, get wrought up into such nervous
haste that they are more irritable than the children, and by scolding
and even blows they try to terrify the little ones into quietude.
Mothers often complain of the delicate health of their children,
and consult the physician, when, if they would but exercise a little
common sense, they would see that the trouble is caused by errors in
diet.
We are living in an age of gluttony, and the habits to which the
young are educated, even by many Seventh-day Adventists, are in
direct opposition to the laws of nature. I was seated once at the table
with several children under twelve years of age. Meat was plentifully
served, and then a delicate, nervous girl called for pickles. A bottle of
chow-chow, fiery with mustard and pungent with spices, was handed
her, from which she helped herself freely. The child was proverbial
for her nervousness and irritability of temper, and these fiery condi-
ments were well calculated to produce such a condition. The oldest
child thought he could not eat a meal without meat, and showed great
dissatisfaction, and even disrespect, if it was not provided for him.
The mother had indulged him in his likes and dislikes till she had
become little better than a slave to his caprices. The lad had not been
provided with work, and he spent the greater portion of his time in
reading that which was useless or worse than useless. He complained
almost constantly of headache, and had no relish for simple food.
[243]
Parents should provide employment for their children. Nothing
will be a more sure source of evil than indolence. Physical labor that
brings healthful weariness to the muscles, will give an appetite for
simple, wholesome food, and the youth who is properly employed will