Freud_Burlingham_1943_War_and_Children_k_text

—had never come back again.The evening after this conversation he didnot make his usual fuss but called her to hisbed and said: "Stay with me. You are mymother now."He is now very closely attached to her, veryaffectionate and much easier to handle. .Hehas succeeded in expressing the most importantevent in his past life in words and consciousthought and this relieves him of the necessityof expressing his memory of it in abnormalbehaviour. Day after day he now adds newpieces of information about his past.Whenever he is at cross purposes with oneof the grown ups, he says threateningly: "Iwill put you to bed." Or "You will get nopudding".In this way he remembers and relates theeducational measures taken in the little schoolwhere he lived with his sister before they cameto us. This also explains why his behaviourwas always most cranky when either eating orwhen supposedly sleeping.The outlet into conscious thought and speechwith consequent relief in their behaviour isunluckily denied to some of our children whowould be most in need of it.We have quite a number of war orphansinour groups. Among them are two familiesfour children in one, two in the other—where139