ABSTRACT
At thirteen-months-old, Little S, and his family, were referred to child guidance by a doctor at a mother and baby clinic. It was whilst she was complaining about having to do all the housework by herself that mother demonstrated to the author part of the family's underlying difficulties. Mother felt that she had to work full-time, and at night, because she saw herself as the main breadwinner. She seemed determined to demonstrate to her own mother that she was not a grown-up-that is, that she was not a woman, capable of dealing with a partner, children, a home, and a career. She then proceeded to attempt to throw out the current occupants, and to install her mother, her children, and herself. She began to understand her children's needs a little better, and then to share her care of them with their father.
