Medical care has been eminently successful in improving the physical status of the child. Progress has been so rapid and on the whole so satisfactory that it has not seemed necessary to define the fundamental principles on which present procedures are based. On the other hand, the introduction of psychologic care into the practice of pediatrics has been retarded mainly by failure to define those very principles which are subconsciously applied daily in the physical care of the child.
Obviously optimal child care means the best adjustment which can be made between the individual child and his environment. To what extent can the child be expected to adapt himself to his environment, and in what way must the environment be adjusted to the child? It is the purpose of this paper to show how more recent knowledge of growth and development assists in the clarification of these problems.