Novick presents a lovely vignette in which a toddler with night terrors is "treated" through the understanding and verbalization of her concerns about her ear infections, surgery, and feeling naughty and punished. A strong case is made for talking with toddlers in order to help them integrate their experiences, especially the traumatic ones. The author wonders whether our reluctance to talk with toddlers and our misunderstanding of their capacity reflect our wish to prolong their infancy and deny certain pregenital conflicts in ourselves and our children. We are cautioned about the impact on ego growth and learning that may result from our unwillingness "to hand over knowledge."