In the beginning were personal senses

Abstract

The anniversary of the outstanding child psychologist Elena Olegovna Smirnova is an occasion to rethink the problems of childhood psychology, the examples of meaningful solutions to which we see from the perspective of a cultural-historical approach in her works. These are the problems of modern childhood as a cultural-psychological phenomenon, new forms of adult-child relationships, as well as the nature of play and toys as mediators in building these relationships. It is also important to understand the trends of communication and disconnection between children and adults, the social situation of development in infancy, childhood as an era of search of meaning of what adults attach «social significance» to. These issues are analyzed by the author of this article.