ABSTRACT
This chapter was written as a talk for a group of nursery teachers in Naples at an opening conference of a new project of ongoing workshops for nursery staff. It presents a lucid and evocative account of the problems young children encounter in facing the first substantial separation from mother and home and provides a fitting introduction to a collection of papers arising from observations of young children at home and in nursery settings. Infant Observation has shown that throughout the early weeks, a baby only feels safe if the link with the placenta is substituted by a readily available nipple in the mouth, and the physical holding within the boundary of the wall of the womb replaced by his feeling closely held and enveloped. The baby needs the parents to tolerate the emotional turmoil he is undergoing. He needs them to demonstrate that in spite of his destructive outbursts, they and their love for him survive.
