The Magic Years: Understanding And Handling The Problems Of Early Childhood

A pioneering work on early childhood development that is as relevant today as when it was first published 60 years ago.To a small child, the world is an exciting but sometimes frightening and unstable place. InThe Magic Years, Selma Fraiberg takes the reader into the mind of the child, showing how he confronts the world and learns to cope with it. With great warmth and perception, she discusses the problems at each stage of development and reveals the qualities-above all, the quality of understanding-that can provide the right answer at critical moments.Amazon.com ReviewThe Magic Years is almost 40 years old, yet this book still offers a wonderful way of looking at how kids think, and why they act the way they do based on their cognitive and emotional abilities.The Magic Years refers to the psychological sense of discovery and magical power a young child feels. This book is used in many child development courses, but is a good read for anybody wanting to understand the young child's mind as he grows, acquires knowledge, and moves into more logical thought patterns. Selma Fraiberg's respect for children radiates from the pages. Take a little bit of time with this book; as Fraiberg says, "It is the quality of our understanding ... that provides us with the right method at critical moments."ReviewParents' Magazine An expert with a gift for writing describes how children mature from birth to six years old....[Fraiberg] discusses theories and facts about feeding, talking, sex education, fantasy, self-control, fear and other subjects in the practical terms of daily living.Mental Health BulletinThe Magic Years is far and above the best description of this early developmental period.About the AuthorSelma H. Fraiberg was Professor of Child Psychoanalysis and Director of the Infant-Parent Program of San Francisco General Hospital, University of California School of Medicine. Her articles were published widely in professional and popular magazines.Excerpt. ?Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.Chapter 1All About Witches, Ogres, Tigers, and Mental HealthA FABLEThere once was a boy named Frankie who was going to be the very model of a modern, scientifically reared child. His mother and his father consulted the writings of experts, subscribed to lecture series and educated themselves in all the rites and practices of child rearing sacred to these times. They knew how children develop fears and neurotic symptoms in early childhood and with the best intentions in the world they set out to rear a child who would be free -- oh, as free as any child can be in this world of ours -- of anxiety and neurotic tendencies.So Frankie was breast-fed and weaned and toilet-trained at the proper ages and in the proper manner. A baby sister was provided for him at a period in his development best calculated to avoid trauma. It goes without saying that he was prepared for the new baby by approved techniques. His sex education was candid and thorough.The probable sources of fear were located and systematically decontaminated in the program devised by Frankie's parents. Nursery rhymes and fairy tales were edited and revised; mice and their tails were never parted and ogres dined on Cheerios instead of human flesh. Witches and evil-doers practiced harmless forms of sorcery and were easily reformed by a light sentence or a mild rebuke. No one died in the fairy-tale world and no one died in Frankie's world. When Frankie's parakeet was stricken by a fatal disease, the corpse was removed and a successor installed before Frankie awakened from his afternoon nap. With all these precautions Frankie's parents found it difficult to explain why Frankie should have any fears. But he did.At the age of two when many children are afraid of disappearing down the bath-tub drain, Frankie (quite independently and without the influence of wayward companions) developed a fear of going down the bath-tub drain.In sp