Freud_Burlingham_1943_War_and_Children_k_text

i./?being used as bombs. Playing train has givenway to playing aeroplane; the noise of trainsto that of flying 'planes. Games like these willcome more into the foreground after air attacks,and give way to peace time games whenthings are again normal. After the raids inMarch and May 1941, the children, three tofive years old, repeated in play what theyhad seen or heard. The climbing frame in thegarden was used to provide a high point forthe bomber. One child climbed to the highestbar and threw heavy objects on the childrenunderneath. This was also the only time whenone of our children was overheard to mention"gas".A girl, three years old, filled both her handswith sand from the sandbox, threw the sandin the children's faces and said: "This is a gasattack".This game was played without fear but witha great deal of unrestrained excitement. A wargame of adifferent kind was played by Bertie,four years old, at the time when he stillrefused to admit the truth of his father's death.He was ill in bed at the time of the springraids, had a whole tray full of paper houseson his bed and played indefatigably. He wouldbuild the houses up, cover them with theirroofs, and then throw them down with smallmarbles which were his bombs. Whereas in68