Selma H. Fraiberg

Famous quotes by selma h. fraiberg:

    For the child whose impulsiveness is indulged, who retains his primitive-discharge mechanisms, is not only an ill-behaved child but a child whose intellectual development is slowed down. No matter how well he is endowed intellectually, if direct action and immediate gratification are the guiding principles of his behavior, there will be less incentive to develop the higher mental processes, to reason, to employ the imagination creatively. . . .
    Selma H. Fraiberg (20th century)

    We must remember when we speak of the ‘negativism’ of the toddler that this is also the child who is intoxicated with the discoveries of the second year, a joyful child who is firmly bound to his parents and his new-found world through ties of love. The so-called negativism is one of the aspects of this development, but under ordinary circumstances it does not become anarchy. It’s a kind of declaration of independence, but there is no intention to unseat the government.
    Selma H. Fraiberg (20th century)

    Mental health depends upon the maintenance of a balance within the personality between the basic human urges and egocentric wishes on the one hand and the demands of conscience and society on the other hand.
    Selma H. Fraiberg (20th century)

    We find that the child who does not yet have language at his command, the child under two and a half, will be able to cooperate with our education if we go easy on the ‘blocking’ techniques, the outright prohibitions, the ‘no’s’ and go heavy on ‘substitution’ techniques, that is, the redirection or certain impulses and the offering of substitute satisfactions.
    Selma H. Fraiberg (20th century)

    We have good reason to believe that memories of early childhood do not persist in consciousness because of the absence or fragmentary character of language covering this period. Words serve as fixatives for mental images. . . . Even at the end of the second year of life when word tags exist for a number of objects in the child’s life, these words are discrete and do not yet bind together the parts of an experience or organize them in a way that can produce a coherent memory.
    Selma H. Fraiberg (20th century)