Summary of Selma H. Fraiberg's The Magic Years

By IRB Media

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Book Preview:

#1 We should not be shocked that children experience anxiety. Every stage of human development has its own dangers, and we cannot avoid many of these fears. We should not try to eliminate all anxiety, and we should not give substance to the idea of bogies by behaving like bogies ourselves.

#2 The way in which the child manages his irrational fears determines their effect on his personality development. If a child feels helpless and defenseless before his imagined dangers, he will develop an attitude of fearful submission to life. But normally the child overcomes his fears.

#3 Mental health is not just the product of a special dietary regime, but the work of a complex mental system that reacts to experience, adapts to experience, and maintains a balance between inner needs and outer demands.

#4 The highest order of mental health involves a solid and integrated value system, which is both conscience and ideal self. The balance between the two forces within your personality is what keeps you healthy. If you find yourself in conflict with either your conscience or society, your ego will try to find solutions that satisfy both parties.

• Language: English
• Publisher: IRB Media
• Release date: Jun 13, 2022
• ISBN: 9798822522954

IRB Media

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Insights on Selma H. Fraiberg's The Magic Years

Contents

Insights from Chapter 1

Insights from Chapter 2

Insights from Chapter 3

Insights from Chapter 4

Insights from Chapter 5

Insights from Chapter 1

#1

We should not be shocked that children experience anxiety. Every stage of human development has its own dangers, and we cannot avoid many of these fears. We should not try to eliminate all anxiety, and we should not give substance to the idea of bogies by behaving like bogies ourselves.

#2

The way in which the child manages his irrational fears determines their effect on his personality development. If a child feels helpless and defenseless before his imagined dangers, he will develop an attitude of fearful submission to life. But normally the child overcomes his fears.

#3

Mental health is not just the product of a special dietary regime, but the work of a complex mental system that reacts to experience, adapts to experience, and maintains a balance between inner needs and outer demands.

#4

The highest order of mental health involves a solid and integrated value system, which is both conscience and ideal self. The balance between the two forces within your personality is what keeps you healthy. If you find yourself in conflict with either your conscience or society, your ego will try to find solutions that satisfy both parties.

#5

A neurosis is a poor solution to conflict, and it is a bad compromise. It is a disguised form of the conflict that persists in a series of attempted compromises. The neurosis resembles a cold war between two nations, where strong demands are made by both sides.

#6

Anxiety is not a pathological condition, but a necessary and normal physiological and mental preparation for danger. It is necessary for the survival of the individual under certain circumstances.

#7

Anxiety serves social purposes. It is one of the motives in the acquisition of conscience, and it is fear of disapproval from loved ones that brings about moral conduct. However, anxiety can also be pathological, and can result in neurotic symptoms or antisocial behavior.

#8

The child’s ability to tolerate tension and deal with anxiety situations is largely determined by the experiences of early childhood. During the period of infancy, when the child is biologically helpless, we do everything we can to reduce tension and satisfy all his needs.

#9

There are no ways to avoid anxiety in the life of a child. If we banished all the witches and ogres from his bedtime stories and policed his daily life for every conceivable source of danger, he would still construct his own imaginary monsters out of the conflicts of his young life.

#10

Each child reacts to danger in specific ways, and he defends against danger in specific ways. These tendencies are partly innate, but they can also be modified as the child develops. We must understand and support the positive tendencies in the child’s personality if we want to help him overcome his fears.

#11

I met a child’s