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various forms of advertisements all help to reach many who could
not have been reached in any other way.
The doctor in general practice has an important role in
health education when he can spare the time for this important
role with his patients. Some practices organise special education
sessions for those of their patients who wish to attend. The doctors
organisations, too, provide a highly valued service through their
publications which are widely available at booksellers and in
chemists shops.
Health education must do more than provide information. It
must also seek to influence people to act on the advice and information
given, and must seek to counteract pressures which are
inimical to health. High priority should continue to be given to the
health education of mothers.
It is necessary to educate the public on a truer understanding
of cancer, on dental care, about suitable kinds of footwear, on
mental health and the emotional needs of parents and children.
The special needs of immigrants are important, also the promotion
of the habit of exercise and the healthy use of leisure at all ages;
special attention should be paid to middle-aged men.
It is against this background that the health services concerned
with parents and young children are so particularly rewarding.
At no other time is the adult so open to suggestions and help,
since the parents have undertaken a formidable commitment and
are likely to be glad of all the help that can be given. It is thanks
in great measure to the doctor, health visitor and midwife, to
clinic and maternity ward and to all sources of help available
during the child's infancy that parents today can hope to build up
their family without losing sight of each other in the process, and
that the mother, in particular, can hope to perform her heavy task
without any longer becoming worn out before her time. Nor is
there any real risk that the new agencies provided to help the
parents may between them reduce the sense of parental responsibility.
Some parents take their duties too lightly, just as others
make a burden of them; both kinds will be known to welfare
workers and teachers.
But most parents take their responsibilities seriously, though
not to the point of priggishness. Those people who have themselves
wrestled with the day-to-day task of bringing up children are
seldom under any illusion that outside agencies can take the
parents place. As for the experts, the whole trend of current
thinking is in any case to emphasise and build up the family unit
within the larger framework of society, not to replace it. Where a
family is not functioning properly, it needs to be helped to do
better and rehabilitation is often possible; institutions may be