Freud_Burlingham_1943_War_and_Children_k_text

idealised. Their letters are carried around andhave to be read to the children innumerabletimes. Children who do not receive letters oftenget sulky and depressed.It is interesting to note that the affection forthe parents is transferred in many cases to materialobjects which have come as presents fromthe parents.Hetty, two years and ten months old, had receiveda green knitted dress from her motherand went on wearing it with the greatest delight.When the dress was dirty and supposedto go to the laundry, she was upset and distressedand refused to be comforted.In the same manner, a little toddler in NetherhallGardens had to go to bed in high blackshoes which his mother had brought him thatday as a present.Toys enjoy an entirely different valuation accordingto whether they are given by the nurseryor by the parents. Rosemary, five years old,possesses a collection of tiny toys from hermother which she carries around, shows toeverybody and calls "my very own".Dolls given by a parent are respected byeverybody as private property; dolls given bythe nursery even to individual children are freelyshared with everybody. Only sweets, evenwhen sent by the parents, are shared out immediatelyas a matter of pride and principle.155