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Quote by Selma Fraiberg

“Parents who want a fresh point of view on their furniture are advised to drop down on all fours and accompany the nine or ten month old on his rounds. It is probably many years since you last studied the underside of a dining room chair. The ten month old will study this marvel with as much concentration and reverence as a tourist in the Cathedral of Chartres.”

Quote by Selma Fraiberg

Book:The Magic Years: Understanding and Handling the Problems of Early Childhood
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The Magic Years: Understanding and Handling the Problems of Early Childhood

This book delves into the complexities of early childhood, providing a detailed exploration of the developmental stages and common issues faced by children in their early years. It aims to assist parents and caregivers in understanding and effectively managing the unique challenges of this period of life. more

Author

Selma Fraiberg
Selma Fraiberg

Selma Fraiberg (March 8, 1918 - December 19, 1981) was an American psychologist and author. Her book 'The Magic Years' had a profound impact on the field of child psychology. more

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“It seems to me that we have to draw the line in sibling rivalry whenever rivalry goes out of bounds into destructive behavior of aphysical or verbal kind. The principle needs to be this: Whatever the reasons for your feelings you will have to find civilized solutions.”

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Book:The Magic Years: Understanding and Handling the Problems of Early Childhood
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“The parent who loves his child dearly but asks for nothing in return might qualify as a saint, but he will not qualify as a parent. For a child who can claim love without meeting any of the obligations of love will be a self-centered child and many such children have grown up in our time to become petulant lovers and sullen marriage partners because the promise of unconditional love has not been fulfilled.”

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Book:The Magic Years: Understanding and Handling the Problems of Early Childhood
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“Language makes it possible for a child to incorporate his parents' verbal prohibitions, to make them part of himself....We don't speak of a conscience yet in the child who is just acquiring language, but we can see very clearly how language plays an indispensable role in the formation of conscience. In fact, the moral achievement of man, the whole complex of factors that go into the organization of conscience is very largely based upon language.”

MenChildrenPlayWholeFactsSpeakLanguageParentMoralRolesAchievementConscienceOrganizationComplexesFactorsIndispensableFormationProhibition
Author:Selma Fraiberg
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“An older child, one who possesses a conscience, will be troubled with self-reproaches and feelings of shame for his naughtiness, even if he is not discovered. But our two-year-olds and our three-year- olds experience guilt feelings only when they feel or anticipate disapproval from the outside. In doing this, they have taken the first steps toward the goal of conscience, but there is a long way ahead before the policeman outside becomes the policeman inside.”

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Author:Selma Fraiberg
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“It no longer makes sense to speak of "feeding problems" or "sleep problems" or "negative behavior" is if they were distinct categories, but to speak of "problems of development" and to search for the meaning of feeding and sleep disturbances or behavior disorders in the developmental phase which has produced them.”

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Book:The Magic Years: Understanding and Handling the Problems of Early Childhood
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“The child begins life as a pleasure-seeking animal; his infantile personality is organized around his own appetites and his own body. In the course of his rearing the goal of exclusive pleasure seeking must be modified drastically, the fundamental urges must be subject to the dictates of conscience and society, urges must be capable of postponement and in some instances of renunciation completely.”

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Book:The Magic Years: Understanding and Handling the Problems of Early Childhood
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“A method of child-rearing is not--or should not be--a whim, a fashion or a shibboleth. It should derive from an understanding of the developing child, of his physical and mental equipment at any given stage, and, therefore, his readiness at any given stage to adapt, to learn, to regulate his behavior according to parental expectations.”

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Book:The Magic Years: Understanding and Handling the Problems of Early Childhood
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“It is confidently expected that the period is at hand, when man, through ignorance, shall not much longer inflict unnecessary misery on man; because the mass of mankind will become enlightened, and will clearly discern that by so acting they will inevitably create misery to themselves.”

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Book:First American from the third London edition
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“The meaning of the living words that come out of the experiences of great hearts can never be exhausted by any one system of logical interpretation. They have to be endlessly explained by the commentaries of individual lives, and they gain an added mystery in each new revelation.”

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Book:SĀDHANĀ - The Realisation of life
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