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Freud’s description of peek a boo first detailed many ways in which the child, who in the womb has been part of the mother and who later, once born, is entirely dependent upon her, gradually learns that she is actually a separate being. At first, in the face of any separation from her, the child experiences what can only be a ghastly anguish: “As soon as it loses sight of its mother it behaves as if it were never going to see her again: and repeated consoling experiences to the contrary are necessary before it learns that her disappearance is usually followed by her reappearance. Its mother encourages this piece of knowledge which is so vital to it by playing the familiar game of hiding her face from it with her hands and then, to its joy, uncovering it again. In these circumstances it can, as it were, feel longing unaccompanied by despair.”
-- Allen Shawn, Wish I Could Be There
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