Intermediate passages 1 The best recruiting agents

15 Weaning

Weaning is a very delicate process, important for the whole of a child's life. It is not a problem of nourishment, but of the spirit. This side of the problem is all but neglected. We must be careful to substitute some other kind of pleasure to take the place of the original pleasure of the mother's breast. The process of weaning can be carried out so that the child himself, with a little encouragement, will choose a new and wider form of pleasure, and so pass lightly through this, the most intense, emotional experience of life. If the change, when its time comes, is violently made, desire will not go forwards to new fields and to wider experience of mind, but backwards to some substitute pleasure of the same type as the one to be surrendered. Thumb-sucking, an obvious substitute, is the commonest.

1. 
   In the passage, it is emphasized that during the process of weaning A) children generally become very delicate
   

B) parents have difficulty knowing what to feed the child

C) the child's capacities go backwards for a while rather than forwards
D) the child must be provided with another pleasure so that the adjustment is made easier

2. 
   The writer states that
   

1. 
   it's usually the parent that surrenders to the child's desire for an unpleasant substitute
   
2. 
   when weaning is done forcefully, it's most commonly substituted for by thumb-sucking
   
3. 
   the parent should ask someone more experienced for help during the process of weaning
   
4. 
   the more emotional the child, the more intense his desire for breast-feeding
   

3. The writer points out that though it is virtually always ignored,

1. 
   the food the child is given during weaning should be delicious enough to satisfy his appetite
   
2. 
   the spiritual effect of weaning is lifelong
   
3. 
   breast-feeding should be lengthened as long as possible
   
4. 
   the substitute for weaning should be left to the child's choice