Growth and Development of Children

Abstract

Many paediatricians on both sides of the Atlantic are concerning themselves more and more with the child's view of the world, and in particular with the ways in which the developing human organism adapts with varying success to his crises and anxieties. When this experiential aspect of child development is studied there are apt to be consequences for the observer of a rather unique and personal kind: the realization that some of the child's problems are still active in ourselves. This is among the most significant of the problems facing con- temporary paediatrics. What are the repercussions on training of the need for an awareness of the factors under- lying the behaviour of children and the paediatrician's work on himself which this entails? This is one of the major themes of Dr. Winnicott's book.