poorly in school, he later went to a university and took top honors in his particular field of study. We are entirely responsible for our children’s physical well-being. How many mothers know the distinc tions between a carbohydrate, a vita min and a protein? I wonder if they really know what a good balanced diet is. Are you providing all that is necessary for the proper develop ment of your offspring? The Psalm ist writes of the Lord, “Thou hast set the solitary in families.” How grateful we should be for our chil dren. Only the Lord can guide us as fathers and mothers with discern ment. Will you seek His help in com munion with Him and through the power and inspiration of His Word? C hapter T wo One of the primary reasons why God has given children parents is so that we might discipline them in love. A child cannot provide for it self. There are long years before he becomes mature enough to use proper discernment. Science reveals today that many of the actions of the pregnant mother affect the embryo carried in her womb during the gestation period from conception to birth. How grate ful we should be that our Saviour has so structured the body to protect the baby from much of the harmful action of the mother. As an example, the food intake of the mother may have a great and even a harmful effect upon the child. Scientists at the University of Michigan have reported that a moth er, carrying a child at certain times in her life, may affect it even by tak ing aspirin. This was reported in a medical journal just this last year. Last fall, a baby bom to a 27-year- old Yukon mother, an alcoholic, weighed 4 pounds and 15 ounces at birth. Its breath was alcoholic. This little child, for 24 hours, was jerky and jumpy. To quote the Canadian 4
Medical Association Journal, it had delirium tremens symptoms. The American Medical Association wrote of a similar experience in New Jersey. Doctors were surprised that a certain new-born i n f a n t went through all the symptoms of narcotic addiction: withdrawal, convulsions and the like. Checking out the moth er, they found her to be a confirmed addict. For three or four days, that child continued all of the symptoms. It has been shown by statistics that twice as many babies are bom mentally defective in the spring af ter a hot summer. Why is this ? Dur ing the hot summer, not infrequent ly, mothers who are carrying a child when the cerebral cortex is being formed, instead of eating proteins and the proper building blocks, have nourished themselves on iced teas and soda water. These are delectable but do not provide material to build up the brain. There is a great deal of data avail able concerning four areas or factors affecting the unborn baby in various stages of development. One of these is social disease, such as syphilis. Venereal disease affects the forma tion of the life cell. Another problem is white lead. This substance, found in many paints, can be most injurious to an unborn child. The third is ra diation. This is the reason we are concerned about such things as X- rays. The last is alcohol. You will not hear anything of its dangers in ad vertisements. Scientists believe that alcohol can and does definitely affect an offspring. Dr. C. F. Hodge of Clark University in W o rce ste r, Massachusetts carried on an experi ment with psychological and physio logical aspects of liquor. He took four Cocker spaniels that were of the same strain and background. He mated them together and gave them the names of Nick and Topsy. He had a very interesting sense of humor. The other two dogs he called Bum and
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