Maintenance of Mental Health.

. Perhaps it is just as well that we remember so little of what happened during the early years of ?ur lives, that so many of the conflicts, frustrations and fears which assailed us at that time have been relegated to the unconscious, repressed and apparently forgotten. And yet if we are to understand ourselves and our fellow men, and ^specially our children, it is essential that the importance of these early years be recognized as they play such a vital part in character development. For although much may be lost to consciousness in later life we are what ye are, to a great extent, because of the way in which these conflicts were dealt with at the time when they occurred. By this I do not mean to imply that all children are unhappy, but only that all children in the process of growing up do have to face, from time to time, Problems which to them are very real and which may be accompanied by great distress and anguish. How often, I wonder, do we stop to think what it must be like to the young baby to be utterly dependent, unable to express his needs in an articulate manner, having always to wait for someone else to attend to his wants both Physical and emotional and relying entirely ?n the kindness and understanding of adults ? The grown-up when he is hungry can get himself a meal, when he is cold he can put on a coat, and when he is lonely can seek company if it is ?nly in books or the wireless. Even if he has to wait he does at least understand about time and knows he will not have to wait forever. Experience teaches us that immediate gratification is not always possible and that because something is withheld it does not necessarily mean that we are deserted, unloved and unlovable. We learn also that alternatives may be found for some of our unsatisfied wants. But the young baby has no understanding of time and his experience of substitutes is very limited. It means nothing to him when he is hungry that his mother is on her way to him. Until he hears her voice or feels her arm about him he feels, deserted, forgotten and unloved. His physical hunger is combined with his need for love and security and the absence of the one means the