第十四章 - 大人になってからの活動の準備
けれども,いかなる女性も常に幸福でいることができるものではない。そこで,不幸なときには,子供の反応を求めすぎないようにするには,ある程度の自制が必要になるかもしれない。その程度の自制をすることは,それほど難しいことではない。しかし,以前は,その必要が認識されておらず,また,母親が頻繁に我が子を愛撫し続けることはまったく適切な振る舞いである,と考えられていた。幼い子供の異性愛的な情緒は,他の子供と交わることで,自然で,健康で,また無邪気なはけ口を見つけることができる。異性愛的な情緒も(は),この形においては,遊びの一部であり,全ての遊び同様に,大人になってからの活動の準備になる。子供は,3,4歳を過ぎると,情緒の発達のために(は),他の男女の子供の連れ(company 仲間/友達)が必要になり,それは,当然,年上か年下である兄弟姉妹だけでなく,同年配の連れ(仲間)が必要になるのである。 現代の小家族は,まぜ物のないかたちでは(unadulterated),幼年期の健康な発育には非常に風通しが悪く,狭苦しいものである。しかし,それだからといって,小家族は子供の環境の一成分として望ましくない,というわけではない。 |
Chapter XIV: The Family in Individual Psychology, n.2Let us begin with the Oedipus complex. Infantile sexuality is undoubtedly stronger than anybody thought before Freud. I think, even, that heterosexuality is stronger in early childhood than one would gather from Freud's writings. It is not difficult for an unwise mother quite unintentionally to centre the heterosexual feelings of a young son upon herself, and it is true that, if this is done, the evil consequences pointed out by Freud will probably ensue. This is, however, much less likely to occur if the mother's sexual life is satisfying to her, for in that case she will not look to her child for a type of emotional satisfaction which ought to be sought only from adults. The parental impulse in its purity is an impulse to care for the young, not to demand affection from them, and if a woman is happy in her sexual life she will abstain spontaneously from all improper demands for emotional response from her child. For this reason a happy woman is likely to be a better mother than an unhappy one. No woman, however, can make sure of being always happy, and at times of unhappiness a certain amount of self-control may be necessary to avoid demanding too much of children. This degree of self-control is not very difficult to practise, but in former times the need for it was not realized, and a mother was thought to be behaving quite properly in lavishing continual caresses upon her children. The heterosexual emotions of young children can find a natural, wholesome and innocent outlet with other children; in this form they are a part of play, and, like all play, they afford a preparation for adult activities. After the age of three or four, a child needs, for his or her emotional development, the company of other children of both sexes, not only brothers and sisters, who are necessarily older or younger, but contemporaries. The modern small family, unadulterated, is too stuffy and confined for healthy development during the early years, but that does not mean that it is undesirable as an ingredient in the childish environment. |