The Nursery Age Child

Book excerpt: This book aims to facilitate the understandings of nursery age children, that is, children around three, four and five years, and their parents. Children of these ages are particularly fascinating. The wealth of their growing minds is apparent in their play and in their widening capacity to express themselves in words. It is a time of much discovery and experimentation, accompanied often by excitement and anxiety. There is something open-minded and open-hearted about children of these years. The author's views on nursery age children have been based on observing and working with them over the past twenty years, in various settings, including their homes, nursery schools and hospitals, and as a psychologist and child psychotherapist, in assessments and individual psychotherapy. She has also learnt much in working with families and with groups of parents .The book is influenced and informed by the writings of Sigmund Freud, Donald and Clare Winnicott, Anna Freud, Selma Fraiberg, and Jean Piaget.