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11
"We encourage the parents to adopt a sensible regime for the
child which will enable him to keep fit, and the paramount importance
of a well-balanced diet, fresh air in abundance, exercise (preferably
in the open air) and adequate rest and sleep is constantly stressed,
and the meals provided at the Open Air School, Nursery School
and Canteens conform to our best knowledge of dietetics.
"Faulty diet is, I am convinced, at the root of most cases of
avoidable ill-health, and to combat this we endeavour to spread
reliable information at medical inspections, clinics, etc., on the
value of the various foodstuffs from a nutritional, point of view,
and the close dependence of bodily health on the food we eat.
"A mother with little or no knowledge of practical dietetics
will continue to spend her money uneconomically on foods such as
fish pastes, sauces, pickles and fancy cakes, which are relatively
expensive but of little real nutritional value.
"We constantly stress the importance of giving children foods
which contain an abundance of vitamins A and D, as these important
accessory food factors are both essential for normal growth—the
vitamin A affording good protection against certain infections, and
the vitamin D ensuring the formation of sound teeth and bones.
One of the cheapest of the first-class body-building foods containing
both these vitamins is the herring, and in addition to its high
protein or muscle-building content and the vitamins A and D, it
contains fat, which is an important source of heat and energy.
This most valuable and cheap fish is far too much neglected.
"Parents are also constantly advised as to the importance of
green vegetables and uncooked vegetables, such as grated raw
carrot, tomatoes, lettuce and celery, and the advisability of cooking
the potato in its skin and so conserving its salts.
"All these vegetables furnish valuable mineral salts and
vitamins. The parents are advised to give at least two vegetables
daily to the children, and in addition fresh fruit daily when possible.
"When for any reason the income is totally inadequate to
supply a sufficiency of these important foods, the provision of
two-thirds of a pint of milk daily at school, either free or at a
reduced cost, helps considerably to safeguard the child's health.
In addition to this milk which is taken at the schools, cod liver
oil or cod liver oil and malt can be obtained through the school
clinics where this is recommended by the medical staff on medical
grounds, and we find that this additional provision has been of the
greatest benefit to those children who have been considered to be
in need of it.
"I should like to express my grateful appreciation of the
willing and unfailing co-operation of the head teachers and their