Freud_Burlingham_1943_War_and_Children_k_text

the other children's game any number ofpeople were "killed" and in the end everythingwas left in bits and pieces, the point inBertie's play was that all his people were alwayssaved in time and all his houses wereinvariably built up again. The other childrenrepeated incidents of a more impersonal kindin their games; they played active and embellishedversions of events which had actuallyhappened. This served the purpose of reliefand abreaction. Bertie's play, on the otherhand, had the opposite intention—he wantedto deny the reality of what had happened.Since the denial was never completely successfulthe play had to be repeated incessantly—it became compulsive. The games of theotherchildren remained transitory.Bertie stopped playing in this way when,half a year later, he at last gave up his denialand was able to tell his story: "My fatherhas been killed and my mother has gone to thehospital. She will come back at the end ofthe war but he will not return."No war games are played in the Babies'Centre where the oldest children are now aboutthree years, which means that they experiencedbombings when they were lessinthan two.Dolls and teddy bears are usedplay as substitutes for missing families.Children of four or five still69go to bed with