This study compares two small sets of middle class children observed in a play group between ages one and one half to three years. One set came with their own mothers, the other with paid caregivers since the mothers were in full-time employment. Striking differences were seen. With the caregivers the children's affects were more muted and they communicated less. They remained angry with mother, who was clearly the primary libidinal object. However, these children's social and cognitive skills developed earlier, as did their representational play, including representation of nonpresent people, seemingly as a bridge toward the absent mother. They also showed intense interest in one another, identifying with, and mothering each other. Exploring the question of how the maternal representation is constructed, developmental research now indicates that it is a composite of many single impressions from early on, unified into a generalized representation, so that experiences with both caregiver and mother contribute significantly to this idealized construction.