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89
possible to deal somewhat more adequately with the dental condition
of Enfield children.
Reviewing generally the health of the children attending our
schools, I think one must feel satisfied that there is an improvement
in the physique of the pupils.
Throughout the country children weigh more and are taller than
were their predecessors some years back. I think, too, that the children
are generally tidier and cleaner.
A question of supreme importance, however, is the mental
health of the modern child.
I know of no way of assessing mental health, for if one is to
compare the children of to-day with those of past years one must
also consider the environmental changes that have taken place. In
the first place children get less community life at home than formerly,
for large families are infrequent. In the second place our cities are
noisier and our traffic faster, whilst wireless and the cinematograph
have enlarged the field of thought of our pupils. It cannot be
surprising then that we are frequently consulted by parents who
complain that their children are “nervy,” or difficult, or that they
are unable to manage them. Certain of these children we treat
ourselves, others have attended at Child Guidance Clinics. It has
been almost a routine to receive from these clinics reports to the
effect that the home surroundings of the children are unsatisfactory,
or that the parents are not wise in the way that they manage their
children. We couple this with our own observations that some of
the younger children attending our clinics are so spoilt as to make
examination and treatment difficult. It has been our aim to advance
the treatment of dental caries to as early an age as possible, yet the
report of our Senior School Dental Surgeon stresses the difficulty
of treating young children. Is one, therefore, right in assuming
that parents need more training in the care of children than they
are receiving ? I think this must be so, for the improvement in
behaviour of a number of children as soon as they go to school is
often surprising, whilst the skilled handling of children by members
of your staff soon produces a docile patient out of a refractory, spoilt
and crying child. The improvement in behaviour of children as
soon as their parents are out of the room is most surprising.
Admittedly doctors and teachers by their experience and training
learn how to deal with such children, but there are certain rudimentary
elements in child management which should be appreciated by
parents and known to them. Children should not be
frightened either of a doctor or dentist because he has been held
up to them as a “bogey man.” They should be accustomed to
accept orders from their parents or from other adults in whose care
they are placed, if not without question at least without crying. Yet