There are many sick people in the world, unhappy, in pain, and generally miserable. They would give everything to get well, have good health and be strong again. Many have spent their money going to many different kinds of doctors trying to get help.
Until the Lord comes again this world will always be filled with such troubles. However, many of the sicknesses and accidents could be prevented, if we took the time to learn ways of healthful living and of being careful. Through the years God has guided man to discover better ways of caring for their health and more effective medicines to cure disease. We not only want our children to have hearts that love what is right but also to have bodies that are strong and healthy.
Good health is not achieved through magic, but through obedience to the laws of health. By obeying these simple laws of health many wise people are blessed with more children and with a better life and good health.
Here are some of the ways you can obey the laws of health.
Teaching the children to bathe.
To keep our bodies free from evil-smelling perspiration and dirt, we need to bathe daily with soap and clean water. Sometimes our children must be reminded of special places to wash, such as the neck, ears, elbows, knees, and fingernails. Dirty fingernails are carriers of the disease. The children should be taught early to make a thick lather soap all over their bodies, reaching all the places that sometimes hide dirt. Their scalps should be free of the scale of grime that develops on the heads of children whose parents neglect to wash them.
Our house should be clean and tidy.
There should be hidden far away from the house, a rubbish pit for the disposal of all refuse. Some kind of clean toilet system should be provided, perhaps a deep pit, properly enclosed to ensure safety. If the children need a vessel of some kind at night, parents should make one available in order to prevent them from forming the habit of urinating just outside the hut. When this vessel is washed daily with soap and hot water, with a few drops of daily with soap and hot water, with a few drops of disinfectant, it will remain clean and free of foul smells.
Mother's and Father will see that there are enough clothes’ boxes and cupboards for all the family, a place to hang dresses, suits, and hats. The blankets and other bedding will be aired and washed often enough to keep them clean. If we have a child who regularly wets the bed, we will not fail to buy a waterproof sheet, so that we don’t have a dirty, smelly mattress. Never will we leave food uncovered where disease-laden flies can alight on it.
Medical science has discovered that it is much better for our digestive system if we have a regular time for eating. If our children have been accustomed to picking at the food any time they wish, we may find difficulty in breaking this habit, but gradually we can encourage them not to eat except at mealtime. If we have three good meals per day, and yet feel the little ones still need something in between meals, let them have something extra at a certain time each day, but not just any time all day long. To help them form the habit of eating only at mealtimes, place all food out of sight after each meal.
Six or eight glasses of good water daily help to keep us healthy. Have the water jar where the children can serve themselves. Encourage them to drink many cups of water daily, at all times during the day.
Many children do not get the sleep they need. Sleep is very important to growing children. Their bodies and minds need complete relaxation that comes only with a nap during the day, and restful sleep at night. The two-year-olds need twelve hours of sleep at night; the child from six to nine years need eleven hours, and the children above twelve years need about ten hours of sleep. If all get up around six o’clock in the morning, the smallest children must be in bed by six o’clock, and the older ones by eight o’clock the evening before. Perhaps we have thought that children will naturally take the sleep they need, but this is not so. Some children are more nervous and excitable than others, and unless they are made to retire to a quiet sleeping room, they will not get to sleep until very late.
Solomon said, “A merry heart doeth good like a medicine”. (Prov. 17:22.) Thinking happy thoughts will be like medicine to us. Let us teach our children to think kindly of others—how to help them, how to encourage them, how to make them happy. Teach them to appreciate the beauties of nature and a love for the creatures God has created for them. Teach them about Jesus and His love for them, and how the angels guard and protect little children from danger. These thoughts in their minds will help to produce happy, healthy, and well-adjusted children.
Learning to eat in the right way.
Medical science has discovered that it is much better for our digestive system if we have a regular time for eating. If our children have been accustomed to picking at the food any time they wish, we may find difficulty in breaking this habit, but gradually we can encourage them not to eat except at mealtime. If we have three good meals per day, and yet feel the little ones still need something in between meals, let them have something extra at a certain time each day, but not just any time all day long. To help them form the habit of eating only at mealtimes, place all food out of sight after each meal.
Then, too, we all need much more water than we usually drink.
Six or eight glasses of good water daily help to keep us healthy. Have the water jar where the children can serve themselves. Encourage them to drink many cups of water daily, at all times during the day.
Getting enough sleep.
The medicine that works best.
Solomon said, “A merry heart doeth good like a medicine”. (Prov. 17:22.) Thinking happy thoughts will be like medicine to us. Let us teach our children to think kindly of others—how to help them, how to encourage them, how to make them happy. Teach them to appreciate the beauties of nature and a love for the creatures God has created for them. Teach them about Jesus and His love for them, and how the angels guard and protect little children from danger. These thoughts in their minds will help to produce happy, healthy, and well-adjusted children.