1When mothering is inadequate or provided only intermittently, a dyadic relationship with father can provide the continuity and the nurturance that is necessary for the successful navigation of infancy and early childhood, including the phases of separation-individuation. B.'s experience supports Pruett's hypothesis, based on observational data, that fathers can function as mothers during the early years of development. Thus B.'s wish: "I want to be as good a mother as my father was."

2B.'s positive oedipal impulses were extremely conflictual for her not only because of the mother's illness and prolonged absence from home, but also because of the intensity of the early relationship with father. The positive dyadic experience with father, which was essential during her preoedipal years (given her mother's unavailability), contributed to B.'s difficulty with the oedipal phase.