ABSTRACT
The mother attuned to her child's needs must be subtly aware at the time, even in early infancy, in which the first impulses toward self-activity occur. She must have inner vision to see the faint signs of the craving for emancipation, so that positive emphasis can be laid on the forward-striving of the child and the long slow process of integration can be begun-an awareness which so many mothers deeply sense, of the first impulses towards controlled purposeful movement on the part of the small infant, which are truly the first creative educational possibilities. At first, just the mere setting of the stage for free bodily activity, clothing which does not restrain so that little legs can kick freely and vague little hands can find the mouth, the eye, etc., and explore with ever growing certainty of movement that mysterious body, the consciousness of which represents the beginning of ego development.
