Relationships that support human development

When Susan was one-and-one-half years old, she had been playing the "lion game" with her mother for the past few months. With a lion puppet on her hand, Susan's mother made the lion roar, tickle, bite, and tease Susan, who seemed delighted to be aroused and frightened. Susan and her mother first concocted this curious blend of happiness and fear, approach and withdrawal, when they discovered tickling games. Susan was only six months old at the time. As her mother loomed in for the tickle, Susan would pull away, turn her body to the side, and at the same time reach out for her mother, look at her, and laugh heartily with her mouth wide open. From early in the first year, simple games create emotional challenges - such as a conflict between approach and withdrawal - that are negotiated in the long-term parent-infant relationship.