Development of the Senses - The Child's Will - Mental Hygiene - Some Points to Rememberdevelopment of Memory very mother ought to know something of E the psychology of childhood in order that she can judge to some extent whether her child's mind is developing on healthy lines. It is during the second year that the child's mind develops most rapidly. The infant gives very little evidence of "mind." Indeed, it has been said that the new-born infant is a spinal animal, which means that it could live the existence it does without a brain attached to the spinal column at all. Gradually its senses develop. Touch, taste, and smell are present from the beginning, and sight and hearing to some extent. But sight as we know it, meaning the power of focussing and of following a moving object with the eyes working in co-ordination, does not develop for some time. The child, also, has to learn to distinguish between colours, and to judge distance.

With regard to hearing, this sense gradually develops until a child can distinguish sound and differentiate his language. As the mind grows during the second year the child's character develops, habits are formed, and gradually the personality is evolved.

The Child's Will

The modern mother who takes an intelligent interest in the development of her child's mind from the beginning should note various points in a special book kept for the purpose. It may be extremely valuable in after life for a doctor to know the physical and mental characteristics of childhood. Late teething, for example, is an indication which may be useful to a doctor. Strong emotional tendencies, lack of colour sense, early power of remembering, all serve as a useful indication of the physical and mental trend in childhood if a record has been kept.

It is during the second year that the intellect and will seem to develop most rapidly. At this stage, we may have evidences of apparently "strong will," which is, in many cases, a mother's euphemism for undisciplined temper. The young child has not learned the power of controlling emotions of the wrong sort. He is ruled by emotion and caprice, which are evidences not of strength but of weakness of will.

When mental hygiene comes to be better understood, mothers will realise that it is just as important to pay attention to healthiness of mind as to healthiness of body. For one thing, the physical health is helped or hindered very much according to whether the child's mind is being trained into good habits or bad. The baby of two years who is allowed to give way to fits of passion, whose strong will is admired in and out of season, who dominates the household and compels everyone to minister to his wants, will not thrive in the medical sense of the word so well as if he were governed in the right way.

What rules could be followed by the young mother who desires to ensure that the child's mind will develop in the right way?

He should be taught at this age to obey.

He should be given to understand that no crying or tantrums will ensure him getting his own way for the sake of peace.

The senses should be trained by brick-building, rough modelling with sand, or stick laving in order to develop judgment, co-ordination, and muscle sense.

The social instinct should be encouraged from the first by letting children understand that teasing and bullying are not permitted. The baby of eighteen months or two years can quite easily develop the habit of pinching or biting if permitted to do so, and such habits do not tend to develop the mind on the right lines.

Because physical health affects mind growth, such hygienic questions as fresh air, proper sleep and rest, and the right sort of food, must receive their due measure of attention.

The Development Of Memory

It has been said that nearly all the experiences we pass through during the first two years of life are forgotten altogether after a few years. At the same time the child's memory sense exists and develops very much at this period. He remembers from day to day, from week to week. By remembering all the various sensations of sight, hearing, touch, and smell, a child develops the important quality of "perception."

Perception can be very much stimulated in the nursery by the various devices which have been considered in different articles for developing the child's sense of play. All young children naturally wish to touch and handle objects, and this natural instinct can be utilised for encouraging mental growth. The child is intensely interested in novel objects at this period of his life, and very often so-called naughtiness or fractiousness is due to the fact that the mind is bored from inaction. A child can be kept happy for a long time by giving him one thing and then another thing to look at and examine. At the same time the error of continually keeping the mind and nervous centres on tension must be avoided. The great thing for mothers is to get children to play as much as possible by themselves. By the second year, the baby should have learned to occupy himself occasionally with his own affairs, that it is useless to fret for the continual attention of busy people.

These are all points in mental hygiene to which the young mother should pay attention, just as she would to the brushing of baby's hair or the making of his pudding. Good habits should be installed from the first, so that by the end of the second year baby is cheerful, happy, and intelligent, and his society is a pleasure to the rest of the household.