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Physical
Education
Another
thing should be taught to a child from his early years: to
enjoy cleanliness and observe hygienic habits. But, in obtaining
this cleanliness and respect for the rules of hygiene from
the child, one must take great care not instil into him the
fear of illness. Fear is the worst instrument of education
and the surest way of attracting what is feared. Yet, while
there should be no fear of illness, there should be no inclination
for it either. There is a prevalent belief that brilliant
minds are found in weak bodies. This is a delusion and has
no basis. There was perhaps a time when a romantic and morbid
taste for physical unbalance prevailed; but, fortunately,
that tendency has disappeared. Nowadays a well-balanced body
is appreciated at its true value. In any case, children should
be taught to respect health and admire the healthy man whose
vigorous body knows how to repel attacks of illness. Often
a child feigns illness to avoid some troublesome obligation,
a work that does not interest him, or simply to soften his
parents' hearts and get them to satisfy some caprice. The
child must be taught as early as possible that this does not
work and that he does not become more interesting by being
ill, but rather the contrary. The weak have a tendency to
believe that their weakness make them particularly interesting
and to use this weakness and if necessary even illness as
a means of attracting the attention and sympathy of the people
around them. On no account should this pernicious tendency
be encouraged. Children should therefore taught that to be
ill is a sign of weakness and inferiority, not of some virtue
or sacrifice.
That
is why, as soon as the child is able to make use of his limbs,
some time should be devoted every day to the methodical and
regular development of all the parts of his body. Every day
some twenty or thirty minutes, preferable on waking, if possible,
will be enough to ensure the proper functioning and balanced
growth of his muscles while preventing any stiffening of the
joints and of the spine, which occurs much sooner than one
thinks. In the general programme of the child's education,
sports and outdoor games should be given a prominent place;
that, more than all the medicines in the world, will assure
the child good health. An hour's moving about in the sun does
more to cure weakness or even anaemia than a whole arsenal
of tonics. My advice is that medicines should not be used
unless it is absolutely impossible to avoid them; and this
"absolutely impossible" should be very strict. In
this programme of physical culture, although there are well-known
general lines to be followed for the best development of the
human body, still, if the method is to be fully effective
in each case, it should be considered individually, if possible
with the help of a competent person, or it not, by consulting
the numerous manuals that have already been and are still
being published on the subject.
But
in any case a child, whatever his activities, should have
a sufficient number of hours of sleep. The number will vary
according to his age. In the cradle, the baby should sleep
longer than he remains awake. The number of hours of sleep
will diminish as the child grows. But until maturity it should
not be less than eight hours, in a quiet, well-ventilated
place. The child should never be made to stay up late for
no reason. The hours before midnight are the best for resting
the nerves. Even during the waking hours, relaxation is indispensable
for all who want to maintain their nervous balance. To know
how to relax the muscles and the nerves is an art which should
be taught to children when they are very young. There are
many parents who, on the contrary, push their child to constant
activity. When the child remains quiet, they imagines that
he is ill. There are even parents who have the bad habit of
making their child do household work at the expense of his
rest and relaxation. Nothing is worse for a developing nervous
system, which cannot stand the strain of too continuous an
effort or of an activity that is imposed upon it and not freely
chosen. At the risk of going against many current ideas and
ruffling many prejudices, I hold that it is not fair to demand
service from a child, as if it were his duty to serve his
parents. The contrary would be more true, and certainly it
is natural that parents should serve their child or at least
take great care of him. It is only if a child chooses freely
to work for his family and does this work as play that the
thing is admissible. And even then, one must be careful that
it in no way diminishes the hours of rest that are absolutely
indispensable for his body to function properly.
I
have said that from a young age children should be taught
to respect good health, physical strength and balance. The
great importance of beauty must also be emphasised. A young
child should aspire for beauty, not for the sake of pleasing
others or winning their admiration, but for the love of beauty
itself; for beauty is the ideal which all physical life must
realise. Every human being has the possibility of establishing
harmony among the different parts of his body and in the various
movements of the body in action. Every human body that undergoes
a rational method of culture from the very beginning of its
existence can realise its own harmony and thus become fit
to manifest beauty. When we speak of the other aspects of
an integral education, we shall see what inner conditions
are to be fulfilled so that this beauty can one day be manifested.
So
far I have referred only to the education to be given to children;
for a good many bodily defects can be rectified and many malformations
avoided by an enlightened physical education given at the
proper time. But if for any reason this physical education
has not been given during childhood or even in youth, it can
begin at any age and be pursued throughout life. But the later
one begins, the more one must be prepared to meet bad habits
that have to be corrected, rigidities to be made supple, malformations
to be rectified. And this preparatory work will require much
patience and perseverance before one can start on a constructive
programme for the harmonisation of the form and its movements.
But if you keep alive within you the ideal of beauty that
is to be realised, sooner or later you are sure to reach the
goal you have set yourself.
April
1951
- The Mother
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