Françoise Dolto

A psychologist concerned about kids

When kids get sick with a cold, or have a fever, they are taken to the paediatrician. When they feel sad or cannot concentrate properly at school, the psychologist can help. The French lady Françoise Dolto was famous for her work on psychoanalysis of children because she was both a paediatrician and a psychologist.

She believed that a person’s childhood is important for their development and that small children have language from birth. For example, when we start to crawl, we are already expressing a desire to be independent from our parents.

She also studied the father-child relationship, and held that a child realizes their father is very important for their mother. Although a baby, who wants all his or her mum’s attention, may perceive it as negative at first, this feeling turns into a desire to become an individual, a distinctive person.

Like the French woman Simone de Beauvoir,Françoise influenced the feminist movements of her time.