peers. We may arrange a play-date for the younger ones or encourage them to pursue their peers. “Why don’t you see if so-and-so can play?” we say. It is precisely when children are bored, however, that they are also the most susceptible to forming attachments that will compete with us. We are saying in effect, “Take your attachment hunger to your friends and see if they can help,” or “If you can’t endure your sense of aloneness, go to your peers to get an attachment fix,” or “Why don’t you see if someone else can substitute for the sense of self that you seem to be lacking.”
