The Longest Shortest Time

Aging Crocodiles

In my last post I talked about some advice I got from parent-infant social worker, Alyson McCormick. I asked Alyson if she had any recommended reading for me about child psychology and she sent me two titles. The first is The Magic Years by Selma Fraiberg.

I’ve only just begun reading the book, but one concept stood out to me that I immediately wanted to share:

“The anxieties of the two year old are not the same as the anxieties of the five year old. Even if he same crocodile hides under the bed of one small boy between the ages of two and five, the crocodile of the two year old is not the same beast as the crocodile of the five year old—from the psychological point of view. He’s had a chance to grow with the boy and is a lot more complex than he was the day he first moved in.”

Of course this makes so much sense. But it kind of blew my mind to read that and think about how our monsters grow with complexity in tandem with our minds. It made me wonder how Sasha will process this broken leg period as she gets older. What it will mean to her. Which, by the way, is only going to last 6 more days! We are all very excited.

Anyone out there who can comment on kids processing inner demons differently at different ages?