Freud_Burlingham_1943_War_and_Children_k_text

ond, until she at last said in an angry andscolding tone: "Drop your book and attend tothe air raid".We made exactly the same observations inthe Children's Centre at the time of the December,March, and May raids. When ourune.xploded bomb lay in the neighbouringgarden, the children began by being mildlyinterested and afraid. They learned to keepaway from glass windows and to avoid theentrance into the garden. By keeping upcontinual talkabout the possible explosion wecould have frightened them into continuationof that attitude. Whenever we let the subjectalone their interest flagged. They forgot aboutthe menace from the glass whenever they returnedto their accustomed games; when thethreat from outside lasted more than a weekthey began to get cross with it and denied itspresence.In spite of the bomb still being unremovedthey suddenly declared: "The bomb is goneand we shall go into the garden!"There is nothing outstanding in this behaviourof children towards the presence of realdanger and real fear. It is only one exampleof the way in which, at this age, they dealwith the facts of reality whenever they becomeunpleasant. They drop their contact withreality, they deny the facts, get rid of their27