Le stade anal : fondement du lien d'autorité

The anal stage generates major disruptions in a child's life from 2 to 4 years old. Now seen as a “child”, the former baby is facing a first rule which will lead to many others in the future: the hygiene obligation. Henceforth, he/she must control his/her sphincters to meet adults' wishes, by having his/her bowel movement in an appropriate place. This potty-training has a considerable impact. As a matter of fact, the pot rule is at the heart of big challenges, both educational and psychological. Nevertheless, these latests do not occur without conflicts as the so said rule is not naturally accepted. During this stage, the child is testing the adults' limits through desobedience, what implies a relationship disorder. Yet, these transgressive attitudes the child is demonstrating must often been interpreted as the paradoxal expression of a new need: the need for authority. This article focuses on describing the different expressions of this need. It explains the causes by studying the kind of relationship between the child and the adult at this growing stage. The author analyses the authority position function the child is inconsciously asking for. When he/she “pees his/her pants” or in inappropriate places, he/she is defying the adults in order to test the quality of the relationship built with them. Doing so, the child displays some fears he/she cannot express in a different way when testing in the meanwhile his/her living environment. This article shows that if the child is aggressive with his/her parents, it is not on a destructive purpose but to the contrary to ensure their strongness. In this text, this point is illustrated through a little boy dealing with a fragile mother. The accompanying description of this very troublemaking child explains that some children's unpleasant behaviors are inconsciously aiming to a strongness some adults are not capable to demonstrate. It is also shown that the authority relashionship the child is sometimes asking for through a violent way to his/her parents also depends on the social context the family is living in. The difficulties linked to an apparent lack of parental authority are in this way contrasted to a bigger problem regarding a modern social unrest.