Freud_Burlingham_1943_War_and_Children_k_text

Marchi'HlTHE SHOCK OF SEPARATIONLife in London has been greatly influencedby the fact that bombing was less regular andthat there was even along succession of quietnights. The very few bad air-raids that occurreddid no damage in the immediate neighborhoodof the Nursery.Since darkness comes later, the children areusually asleep now before any noise is to beheard. The exception was one evening raidwhen noise of terrific anti-aircraft fire struckthe children at the time of settling down tosleep. There was one child only, Charlie, fourand a half years old, who showed genuine signsof anxiety.Pauline, four and a half years old,who usually adopts a motherly attitude towardshim as a playmate, advised him to"cover himself right over" as she always didin such cases. All other children did not seemto pay overmuch attention either to the dangeror toCharlie's state of anxiety.It may be interesting to note in this respectthat Charlie, who is the child most easily worriedabout war dangers, is one of the fewchildren in the house who has not beenthrough the experience of being actually bombed.Pauline on the other hand is one of the"bombed" children. A bomb which fell in the07