Introduction Caroline Case and Tessa Dalley
The experience of childhood is universal yet extremely variable. This variability is due to the initial quality of parenting, early infant relationship with mother, and the environment into which the child is born. As the young infant grows, vulnerable and dependant, the child becomes initiated into the emotional, political, and social world of the adult. The child must develop and become integrated by trying to make sense of the conflicts experienced between inner needs, wishes, and phantasies and the outer constraints of this environment.
The idea of this book evolved out of our mutual interest, as art therapists, in working with children. The importance of using the art process in the communication of the inner world of the child is central to our work in art therapy. Also the environmental and social difficulties that the child encounters have come increasingly under scrutiny and therefore this book will interest all those people who come into contact with children either professionally or personally. It may also be of interest to those looking at the development of the child’s consciousness in the formation of adult personality and hence therapeutic work with adults.