The child, therefore, should be put to rest every evening
between seven and eight; and if it be in health it will sleep soundly
until the following morning. No definite rule, however, can be laid
down in reference to the number of hours of sleep to be allowed; for
one will require more or less than another.[FN#16] Regularity as to
the time of going to rest is the chief point to attend to; permit
nothing to interfere with it, and then only let the child sleep without
disturbance, until it awakes of its own accord on the following
morning, and it will have had sufficient rest.
[FN#16] The amount of sleep necessary to preserve health varies
according to the state of the body, and the habits of the individual.
As already observed, infants pass much the greater portion of their
time in sleep. Children sleep twelve or fourteen hours. The schoolboy
generally ten. In youth, a third part of the twenty-four hours is spent
in sleep. Whilst, in advanced age, many do not spend more than four,
five, or six hours in sleep.
It is a cruel thing for a mother to sacrifice her child's health that
she may indulge her own vanity, and yet how often is this done in
reference to sleep. An evening party is to assemble, and the little
child is kept up for hours beyond its stated time for retiring to rest,
that it may be exhibited, fondled, and admired.
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