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Nursery school teachers ask about the whole range of psychoanalytic issues. Even three- and four-year-olds wonder about the big questions in life: Why do I have to go to school? Why can't I play now? Why is my mother leaving me here? Does the teacher like me?
Is it okay to get angry? In the spirit of Anna Freud, who worked with young children and learned from them the true meaning of her father's theories, Erna Furman takes us into the classroom setting of nursery-age children. Her vast experience both with Anna Freud in London and at the Hannah Perkins Therapeutic Nursery School in Cleveland, helps us to understand the basic struggles involved in adjusting to nursery school. The roots of instructional conflicts are seen in the preschooler's struggles to develop a healthy ego and the need to feel whole. How children in this age group cope with anger, fear, depression, loss of love, and abandonment tells us a great deal about their need for understanding and support.
Erna Furman's basic approach is to help the three- and four-year-olds to put their feelings into words. The role of the teacher is to help the youngster find his place in the nursery school setting by clearly explaining school procedures, obligations, and responsibilities. Three- and four-year-olds are encouraged to say what they feel in a safe environment that encourages the healthy exchange of positive and negative feelings.
Each chapter deals with a specific topic and is written by a mental health practitioner who specializes in that area. They can be read as a narrative of early childhood development or used as a reference on specific issues arising in the preschool stage of development. Approached in the framework of psychoanalytic insights into early childhood behavior, the authors deal with a wide range of topics. They include the basic roles of parents and teachers, discipline, preparation for kindergarten, sex differences, characteristics of toddlers' speech, the exceptional child, and special n