Treatment of Under-Fives by Way of their Parents

Work with young children by way of their parents has been used widely both for prophylactic and therapeutic purposes. One of the basic premises for such work is the unique relationship between the mother and her under-five, an interaction characterized by an unusual mutual unconscious closeness. For this and other reasons the mother is in the position of understanding and influencing her child during his first five years to an extent which will never be possible for her again. The under-five is particularly sensitive to his mother's feelings and attitudes. His relationship with her often brings to the fore aspects of his mother's personality which are not so readily affected by her other relationships. With the onset of latency the child's personality structure changes and his relationship with his mother loses these earlier striking qualities. The methods employed in working with mothers and young children are all based on the concept of the early mother-child relationship. Yet they vary considerably in different centers, and even from worker to worker, according to their interpretation of this concept and according to the aims of their work.

Roughly speaking there are three main approaches: (1) To advise the mother directly as to educational methods, to suggest specific ways of handling certain situations, e.g., feeding, toileting, and to give her intellectual understanding of the child's emotional needs in his different developmental phases. This approach presupposes that the mother is emotionally capable of absorbing and utilizing such knowledge to the benefit of the child and without causing an