Attachment

I just returned from a great work-shop on Attachment in Early Childhood and learned that a secure Attachment helps the child:

-- Feel safe and protected.
-- Learn basic trust and reciprocity, which serves as the base for all future relationships.
-- To explore the environment with feelings of safety and security which leads to healthy cognitive and social development.
-- Develop the ability to self-regulate their emotions and impulses.
-- Create a foundation for the formation of identity, which includes a sense of competency, self-worth and a balance between dependence and autonomy.
-- Develop a pro-social moral framework, which includes empathy, compassion and conscience.
-- Build resilience and provides a defense against stress and trauma.
-- Later accept limits as they are imposed by parents and later by others.

All the research recommends parents and caregivers to:
-- Be there for the child.
-- Read their cues correctly and respond appropriately to meet their needs.
-- Be warm, empathetic, protect and play with them.
-- Provide structure that meets their developmental needs.
-- Focus on the quality of the relationship, with closeness and nurturance.
-- Be consistent and most of all, love them.

In short, if you believe in them, they will come to believe in themselves. Secure Attachments are building blocks that last a lifetime.

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