Kalina O.G. Father for a preschooler: from theory to life

Kalina O.G. Father for a preschooler: from theory to life // Preschool Education Today. 2012, Issue 3 - p. 49-57.

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2012, 3

Oleg G. Kalina
PhD in Psychology, Assistant Professor of Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy of Moscow State University of Psychology and Education (Moscow, Russia)

Abstract

The article describes the current theoretical and practical views on the importance of a father for a child’s mental development. Particular attention is paid to subtle aspects of the representation of the paternal figure in the inner psychic world. In the case of several observations it is shown how preschool children create and develop fantasies in terms of psychoanalytic theory about the role of father in their lives and in the life of their family. Practical advices on the interaction of fathers with their children in a stressful situation of parting in the kindergarten are given. Special role that a mother must play in order to facilitate the emergence of a child’s inner world, filled with thoughts, feelings and fantasies about his father is described.