chapter one<br >CHARACTERISTICS<br > OF THE AGE<br > Just as the tides have their rhythms， so does human be-<br > havior have its own pre， dictable rhythms. As the child<br > grows older， "good" ages ， alternate with "bad"; times of<br > equilibrium alternate with times of disequilibrium; and<br > periods when behavior tend~ to be expansive and outgoing<br > alternate with periods when everything seems to be pulled<br > in.<br > It should come as no surprise， then， to the mother or<br > father of a rambunctious Two-and-a-half-year-old， that<br > sometime around the age of Three their son or daughter<br > does seem to calm down conspicuously. He says "yes" in-<br > stead of "no"; "will" instead of "won t." He smiles instead<br > of frowns， laughs instead of cries， gives in comfortably<br > to your requests instead of resisting them.<br > Around thirty-three months of age， many children go<br > through a stage of reliving their babyhood， of thinking<br > about themselves in terms of their own past. The child<br > may pretend that he is a baby， even going back to the<br >glozqous ~cquisitlon of sFeech. So， ~ child may say， "I m<br >//tt/e baby. I can t walk， [ have no teeth， I drink from a<br >bottle. But I can talk."<br > However， by Three， most have caught up with them-<br >selves chronologically and are now in a state of equi-<br ><br >