Freud_Burlingham_1943_War_and_Children_k_text

parents. All these services were simply extensionsof the home, and they worked best whenallowed to function each as one link in a chainof public services for child welfare.We are all conscious of the fact that ourpresent situation is widely different. Familiesare dissolved, homes hardly recognizable assuch, many children scattered in billets, manyclinics closed. The Nursery schools, where theyexist,find themselves suddenly confronted withthe task of filling all these gaps, of fulfilling allthe functions of child welfare rolled into one.In wartime, the nursery, even if not residential,becomes a foster home. Since most childrenhave gone through long waiting periods beforeadmittance to a nursery, they are harmed insome way by the war conditions. That meansthat the nurseries have to admit children inweakened bodily condition, for instance, sheltersleepers of twelve months standing. They admitchildren who are shocked not so much bybombing, as by shelter life and war conditionsin the family. Which means that, besides theirprogram of ordinary education, they have tofulfill the functions of a convalescent home andschool for problem children. Such tasks canbe taken over wherever the doctor, the psychologist,teacher and nurse combine forces. It is,perhaps, not widely enough recognized thatthe most difficult of these various tasks is to186