Babies and Young Children in Nurseries: Using Psychoanalytic Ideas to Explore Tasks and Interactions

Anxiety about the emotional experience of young children in nursery has been central in thinking about the development of nursery provision. The main theory of emotion that has been applied to nursery practice has been attachment theory. This article proposes that there is a need to open up our conceptual framework for thinking about emotional interactions in nursery and introduces concepts from psychoanalytic theory that may assist in this. It illustrates the application of these concepts to thinking about nursery tasks and interactions by reference to existing studies of nursery provision. © 2006 The Author(s). Journal compilation © 2006 National Children's Bureau.