ABSTRACT
The part of the child which is organized and adapted to be sensitive to danger is the ego. When the child has understood the danger and is afraid of these situations, he has made an important step in his ego development because he is now able to do something about it. That is why the ego has learned everything it can about the external world, and to spy the dangers in the environment and to guide the wish fulfilment of the id urges accordingly. But there is one more reason for the child's anxiety. It have described how powerful the id is and how very small and powerless in comparison the ego is. The fear of the parents, once it is taken over into the superego, is all the greater because it is not only that the superego criticizes and punishes the child, but it threatens the child for merely thinking certain thoughts.
