ABSTRACT
When a 5–10-year-old shows signs of distress that appear to be related to his father’s absence, it can be difficult to establish the precise dynamics of the child’s feelings towards each of his parents. When father has work commitments that demand his absence from home for hours or days, the child will obviously tend to rely more on his mother’s ministrations. If mother is happy with her husband’s absences, this situation will usually pose few or no problems. It is very intriguing to discover that many 5–10-year-olds will not ask questions about the absent father. While the under-five or the pre-adolescent will often come out into the open with their thoughts about father’s absences, sometimes voicing their relief or their sense of betrayal and abandonment, the 5–10-year-old tends to be far more reserved regarding his feelings about the father’s absence.
