ABSTRACT
Children acquire the capacity to recognize their own, and others' imagining and feeling minds through the experience of repeated minute and subtle interactions with those close to them, primarily their parents or their main caregivers. There will be many mistakes and frequent misunderstandings in these repeated interactions, but the important ingredient is the continued search for mutual understanding. It is known that children with parents who, rather than only considering what their child is doing, consider what he is thinking, feeling, and wishing do much better themselves in later life at understanding what lies behind the behaviour of others. Parents who are less able to reflect and feed back to their child the nature of their own thoughts and feelings as well as their thoughts about their child's thoughts and feelings will make it harder for their child to be reflective about others.
