Winnicott, who had worked with evacuated children*, made much of the importance of play* and a ection in *producing a good childhood*. Classical Freudian* *thought pictured relations between* parent and child as fraught and full of *conflict, seething* with* unconscious and barely sup- pressed sexual longings an*d feelings*. By contrast*, Winnicott was* *reassuring: mothers*

and parental figures in general) should* be content* to be ‘ordinarily devoted’ *and ‘good enough’, rather than* strivin...

Winnicott, *who had* worked with evacuated children, made much of the importance of play and a ection in *producing a good childhood. Classical Freudian thought pictured relations between* parent* and* child* as fraught* and full of conflict, *seething *with unconscious and barely sup- pressed *sexual longings and feelings. By* *contrast, Winnicott was reassuring: mothers (and parental figures in general) *should be content to be ‘ordinarily devoted’ and ‘*good enough’, rather than striving for ...