ABSTRACT
The young mother of two children is inconsolable because the elder child (aged four) is so remarkably reserved; she endeavours by every means to get the child to be frank, and to gain her confidence, but all in vain. Even when her much-loved English nurse has to be sent away the child displays no emotion towards her mother. The mother begs her to be frank, she may tell her mamma everything that is bothering her. ‘May I really tell everything?’ asks the little one. ‘Of course, just ask,’ answers the mother. ‘Well then, tell me where do children come from!’ (a striking confirmation of Freud’s assumption that the evasiveness of parents towards inquisitive children can become the source of permanent affective and intellectual disturbance).
