Freud_Burlingham_1943_War_and_Children_k_text

urged to adapt themselves to a higher levelof cleanliness, speech, manners, social behaviouror moral ideals,they will resent these demandsas criticism directed against their ownparents and may oppose them as such. Thereare children who will refuse new clothes, andhang on to torn and dirty things which theyhave brought from home. With young childrenthis may be just an expression of loveand a desire to cling to memories; with olderchildren it is simultaneously an expressionof their refusal to be unfaithful to the standardof their homes. Their reaction may, ofcourse, also be of the opposite kind. Thequickness with which they drop their ownstandards may be an expression of hostilityagainst their own parents. When, on the otherhand, children are billeted on families who arepoorer than their own, they easily interpretthe fact as punishment for former ungratefulnessshown at home.This situation of being billeted has a secretpeace-time counterpart in the child's innerphantasy life. Most children of early schoolage, six to ten, possess a secret daydream —the "family romance" — which deals withtheir descent from royal or lordly parents whohave only intrusted them to their real, morehumble families. Others have secret fears ofbeing stolen from their families and then38