SOME BOOKS OF THE WEEK.
[Notice in ikis oolumn does not necessarily preclude subsequent review.] Two excellent little handbooks for the mothers of young families have just been published by Messrs. George Harrap and Co. (Baby's First Year, by Mary Tweedie, Is. 6d. net; and The First Five Years of a Child's Life, by (1 Martin Bennett and Margaret Bennett, 2s. net.) They are both Rule of Thumb books and do not go deeply into the reasons why certain things should be done, but, neverthe- less, they are so sensible and sympathetic that they will prove useful not only to the young working clam mother for whom they are particularly suitable, but also the woman who has access to more expensive and elaborate books. The practical methods of training a child's character described from the point of view of the mother who has not much time for study, rather than from that of the scientific teacher, are particularly well treated in the book by Mr. and Mrs. Bennett. One particular habit which the present writer has noted and deprecated in professional children's nurses is attacked by them : "John falls against a chair and bumps his head. Shall we make a great to-do, console him and then send him to strike or kick the offending chair ? This practice is greatly to be deplored. It merely helps to make John stupidly vengeful," and, the authors might have noted, is very apt to be transferred if the agent of the fall be a human one, child or adult. Very sound, too, is the maxim," Children are never so happy as when they are doing things." The whole of their mental, moral and physical development demands that they should be encouraged to do as much as possible as early as possible.
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