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Bettelheim and Sylvester discuss the meaning of the father's occupation to the child as he enters upon the latency period. In the cases studied, relations with the mother had been severely disturbed before the Oedipal phase, and a correspondingly greater interest in the father had developed. Since experiences with the mother had taught the children to be distrustful, the vaguely understood occupations of the father acquired a threatening character.
To the son of a stockbroker, the father's activities represented a secret magic juggling of figures which resulted in a constant flow of money. The boy spent countless hours manipulating and writing down numbers as a means of testing and acquiring the father's powers. The only subject he seemed able to learn in class was arithmetic. Aspects of his general orientation were revealed in his predilection for constructing burglarproof buildings of which his father, and later he himself, was the owner. During the course of therapy, the magic preoccupation with the paternal profession tended to disappear as the child developed his own interests and resources.
One boy who was constantly concerned with poisons and intricate apparatus was the son of a biochemist. However, the father's occupation merely molded but did not instigate his delusions. Not only the profession of the parent but the attitude of the family and of society toward this profession are conveyed to the child in subtle ways and become factors that make for anxiety or reassurance.