re rapidly filling. What I have in mind
here is rather a single line of the child's development--that which
leads toward making him a useful factor in the home life of which he
forms a part. The boy or girl who fills successfully a place in the
home of his childhood will be in a fair way to undertake successfully
the greater task of founding a home of his own.

In the days of infancy and early childhood, training for boys and
girls may be more nearly identical than in later life. A large part of
the differentiation in the work and play of little boys and girls
would seem to be quite artificial. We give dolls to girls and drums
to boys, but only because of some preconceived notion of our own. The
girls will drum as loudly and the boys care for the baby quite as
tenderly, until some one ridicules them and they learn to simulate a
scorn for "boys' things" and "girls' things" which they do not really
feel.

Throughout this chapter, therefore, it is to be assumed that the
training suggested is quite as applicable and quite as necessary for
one sex as for the other.

Young mothers sometimes ask the family doctor, "When shall I begin to
train the baby to eat at regular intervals, to go to sleep without
rocking, in general to accept the plan of life we outline for him?"
The answer seldom varies: "Before he is twenty-four hours old." It is
therefore evident that all the basic principles of living, whether
physical or mental, must have their foundations far back in the
child's young life.

[Illustration: Photograph by Brown Bros.
Helping with the housework. The boy or girl who successfully fills a
place in the home of his childhood will be in a fair way to undertake
successfully the greater task of founding a home of his or her own]

As a basis for all the rest, we must work for health. A truly
successful life, rounded and full, presupposes health. Regular habits,
nourishing food, plenty of sleep, are axiomatic in writings treating
of the care of young children, yet it is surprising how often these
rules are violated. "It is easier" to give the child what he wants or
what the others are having; easier to let him sit up than to put him
to bed; easier to regard the moment than the years ahead.

[Illustration: Already well started on his education]

Aside from the physical foundation, the training that we are to give
our little children will probably be based upon our conception of what
they need to make them good sons and