FATHER OF THE MAN

A sociological approach to the psychological factors in child development, this does not present a new doctrine but applies the ""laissez faire"" trend of modern child training quite specifically to our middle class culture. Based on case material drawn from both slum and middle class environments, this shows the lack of sexual restraints, the greater play of aggression, independence permitted in the slum strata; it also shows how the middle class imposes a system which is both too severe, too accelerated for the child's personality. Here are the infant drives and needs, how curbed wrongly (nursing, weaning, toilet training); how much training can do- and the evils of excessive training; what factors differentiate children in one family; what heredity determines- and does not determine; the first child against the second; identification; growing older... There's some intensely interesting material here, both physical and sociological, making this a genuine contribution to the field of child development, and of practical assistance to the parent in its suggestions appended at the close of each chapter.