The Magic Years

Selma H. Fraiberg with a new introduction by T. Berry Brazelton, M.D.

In The Magic Years, Selma Fraiberg takes the reader into the mind of a child, showing how he confronts this world and learns to cope with it. With great warmth and perception, she discusses the problems at each stage of development and reveals the qualities--above all, the quality of understanding--that can provide the right answer at critical moments.

CONTENTSPREFACEPart I. INTRODUCTION1. All About Witches, Ogres, Tigers, and Mental HealthA Fable.What Is Mental Health?What Is Anxiety?First: A Human Protector Against Danger.The Ego Defends Against Danger."Laughing Tiger."An Infant Scientist.Imagination, the Intellect and Mental Health.Part II. THE FIRST EIGHTEEN MONTHS2. "Share Off Slumber and Beware..."The New-Born."Why Does the Baby Smile?"The Jig-Saw Puzzle World.On Becoming a Person.The Case of the Vanishing Object.Travel and Perspectives.Locomotion and the Solitary Self.The Missionaries Arrive.At Eighteen Months.3. "Civilization and Its Discontents"What Good Is A Theory?Feeding and Feeding Theories.Disturbances Connected with Separation Anxiety.Activity Brings Problems, Too.Introduction to Bowel Training.Some Disturbances Connected with Bowel Training.Prevention of Disorders Through Early Detection.Part III. EIGHTEEN MONTHS TO THREE YEARS4. In BrobdingnagThe Magician.Abracadabra.A Voyage to Brobdingnag.Magic and Science."I"5. Education Toward RealityThe Building of a Conscience.Weak Spots in the Control System.Helping the Child Overcome His Fears.Part IV. THREE YEARS TO SIX6. A Shift in the Center of the UniverseToward the Age of Reason.Of Mice and Men."Who Am I?" "Where Did I Come From?"About the Oedipus Complex.7. Education for LoveThe Meaning of Sex Education.The Parental Dilemma.How Far Should the Child's Curiosity Be Satisfied?On Giving Sex Information.The Educational Role of the Parents during the Oedipal Phase.Identification.On Being a Girl.On Being a Boy.8. Education of ConscienceThe Dawn of Conscience.Discipline.The Psychology of Punishment.The Acquisition of Moral Values.The Right to Feel.Part V. CONCLUSION9. Toward the FutureAll Kinds of Fortunes.Lessons from the Laboratories of Human Error and Disaster.Lessons from a Model Institution.Can We Insure Against Neurosis?INDEX