Freud_Burlingham_1943_War_and_Children_k_text

Children are similarly ready to take inknowledge about the various occupations oftheir mothers, though the constant change ofoccupation makes this slightly more difficult.Mothers of three-year-olds will change backwardsand forwards between the occcupationsof railway porter, factory worker, bus conductor,milk cart driver, etc. They will visittheir children in their varying uniforms andwill proudly tell them about their new warwork until the children are completely confused.Though the children seem proud oftheir fathers' uniforms, they often seem to resentit and feel very much estranged whentheir mothers appear in such unexpected guises.It is still more difficult for all children toget any understanding of the reason whythey are being evacuated and cannot stay inthe place where their mothers are. In thecase of our children, as in the case of manyothers, this is further aggravated by the factthat they actually did live in London withtheir mothers during the worst dangers andwere sent to the country afterwards whenLondon seemed quite peaceful. They reasonwith some justification that they can live wherevertheir mothers do and that if "home" isas much in danger as all that, their mothersshould not be there either. This, of course,concerns the bigger children of five or more.17