I guess transference can also be experienced by children. Being a teacher, sometimes my students automatically assume that I am going to be mean and I am ugly! This may come from past experiences with a former teacher.

I can see the fear in their eyes when they come in that first day. They tend to stare at me a lot! I have them write down their feelings about the first days of school. Later on in the year, we read back over them. We laugh at how silly it was for them to 'assume' I was this horrible, mean, wicked teacher, who dressed is sack cloth and ashes!

I try to bring to my classroom the lessons I am learning in therapy. Having my students write out their feelings has been a great tool. Especially for those who have trouble expressing to me what is wrong (why they are sad, mad, angry, etc...)

I actually have one student who is in love with me. He tells me all the time that he comes to school because he loves me. He has a rough life at home. I represent a mothering, secure figure to him. Could this be transference? He is wanting me to be his mother because he feels he doesn't have one at home?

He gets very jealous if I spend too much time with another student. Sometimes I see him glaring at me, almost as if he is hating me for not spending that time with him.