Freud_Burlingham_1943_War_and_Children_k_text

especially is very much in evidence in all theresidential nurseries. We can observe big childrenof four or five eagerly and intently suckingtheir thumbs as if they were infants lyingin their cribs. There is so far not enoughevidence to show whether the same really appliestothe other forms of autoerotic pleasures,such as rocking, masturbation, etc.GreedUnder the influence of denial and regressionthe child's natural love for food, for sweets, forpresents, is often turned to insatiable greed.Demand for affection is transformed back intoa demand for material gifts. Parcels from theabsent mother or sweets brought by the visitingmother seem for the child as important asthe mother herself. This does not only signifythat the present can be used as a symbol forthe mother; it means that the mother relationshiphas regressed to the stage when the valueof the mother was still measured in terms ofthematerial comfort derived from her person.AggressionUnder the present war conditions two factorscombine to make children at the nursery stagemore aggressive and destructive than they werefound to be in normal times. One factor isthe loosening of early repression and inhibi-77