Anna Freud Talks On Child Motives

"Good parents are persons who use actively what they have learned passively in childhood," Anna Freud told an overflow audience last night at the New Lecture Hall.

Miss Freud, daughter of the late Sigmund Freud, described the value of psychoanalysis in developing better citizens and better parents. She pointed out how recognition and understanding of childhood drives gives parents insight into their children's motives for behavior.

"Happy childhood is a myth," declared Miss Freud. Adults, she continued, tend to idealize their early years. Citing her wartime experience with two and three year-old "toddlers," Miss Freud stated that these children were more often fighting and in tears than completely satisfied.

Miss Freud warned against strict parents who cannot remember their own childhoods, overlenient parents who wish to spare their children unhappiness, and "analytical" parents who understand their children's drives and give them great license, but do not prepare the children for good citizenship.