75 which were conditioned when they themselves passed
through earlier formative crisis stages. What are the odds that whenever a parent berates a child, Thats dirty.. it
will be an echo from their own past experience at this very stage?
3. Initiative v Guilt To make = going
after
To make like = playing
To make and complete things,
and to make things together. To pursue
ideas, plans Initiative is the capability to devise actions or projects, and
a confidence and belief that it is okay to do so, even with a risk of failure or making mistakes. Guilt means what it
says, and in this context is the feeling that it is wrong or inappropriate to instigate something of ones own design.
Guilt results from being admonished or believing that something is wrong or likely to attract disapproval.
Initiative flourishes when adventure and game-playing is encouraged, irrespective of how daft and silly it seems to
the grown-up in charge. Suppressing adventure and experimentation, or preventing young children doing
things for themselves because of time, mess or a bit of risk will inhibit the development of confidence to initiate,
replacing it instead with an unhelpful fear of being wrong or unapproved. The fear of being admonished or accused
of being stupid becomes a part of the personality. If I dont initiate or stick my neck out Ill be safe.. from
feeling guilty and bad. Parents, careers and older siblings have a challenge to get the balance right between giving
young children enough space and encouragement so as to foster a sense of purpose and confidence, but to protect
against danger, and also to enable a sensible exposure to trail and error, and to the consequences of mistakes,
without which an irresponsible or reckless tendency can develop.
This crisis stage correlates with Freuds psychosexual Phallic stage, characterized by a perfectly natural interest
in genitals, where babies come from, and as Freud asserted, an attachment to the opposite sex parent, and the
murky mysteries of the Oedipus Complex, Penis Envy and Castration Anxiety, about which further explanation and
understanding is not critical to appreciating Eriksons theory.
Whats more essential is to recognize that children of this age are not wicked or bad or naughty, they are exploring
and
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4. Industry v Inferiority
