Freud_Burlingham_1943_War_and_Children_k_text

The step taken was the subdivision of thelarge nursery group into six small "familygroups", of about four children. In assigningthe children to their new substitute mothers,we followed the signs of preference shown onthe one hand by the children, and on the otherhand by the young workers. Each "mother"now has more or less complete charge of herfamily. She alone bathes and dresses her group,isresponsible for their clothes and offers themprotection against all the current mishaps ofnursery life. There is no necessity any longertorefuse a child special attention of a motherlykind.The result of thisarrangement was astonishingin its force and immediacy. The need forindividual attachment for the feelings whichhad been lying dormant, came out in a rush.In the course of one week allsix families werecompletely and firmly established. But the reactionsin the beginning were far from beingexclusively happy ones. Since all these childrenhad already undergone a painful separationfrom their own mother, their mother-relationshipis naturally burdened with the effects ofthis experience. To have a mother means, tothem equally, the possibility of losing a mother;the lovefor the mother being thus closely accompaniedby the hate and resentment producedby her supposed desertion. Consequently,158