Tags / 12 quotes from 2 sources
#attachment
Brain Rules for Baby (John Medina)
Harlow's monkeys wanted comfort, not food
Harlow’s classic attachment experiments involved two of these iron maidens—doll-like structures serving as maternal stand-ins. One was made of harsh wire, the other of soft terry cloth. He took newly born rhesus monkeys, removed them from their biological mothers, and placed…
Romanian orphans and the window for bonding
There’s a window of several years during which babies strive to create these bonds and establish perceptions of safety. If it doesn’t happen, they can suffer long-term emotional damage. In extreme cases, they can be scarred for life. We know this because of a powerful and…
Attachment and what babies tag as important
In that game of peekaboo, it is obvious that the baby and his mother have already formed a reciprocating relationship. In the late 1960s, researchers coined a term to describe it: attachment. Attachment theory springs from the finding that babies come into this world preloaded…
Over-attentive parents smother attachment
Emotional surveillance comes with a caveat, however, for it is possible to give too much of a good thing. In the late 1980s, researchers were somewhat startled to find that when parents paid too much attention to their kids’ cues—responding to every gurgle, burp, and cough—the…
Nighttime Attachment Parenting
Nighttime Attachment Parenting is an extremely infant-driven style. Advocates encourage feeding on demand rather than keeping to a schedule, both day and night; wearing your newborn in a sling during the day; and sleeping with your baby at night (whether in the same bed or in…
Theories of Childhood, Second Edition (Carol Garhart Mooney)
Trust versus mistrust
Erikson’s first stage of psychosocial development, which takes place during the first year of life, is trust versus mistrust. Babies’ task during this time is to develop a sense of trust in themselves, in other people, and in the world around them. Erikson wrote about trust as…
Attachment: a safe base for exploring
This engaging of adults is part of what we call attachment. It is a special bond between babies and the significant adults in their lives. When a securely attached baby is in the presence of these adults, her sense of security and comfort is heightened. The baby uses the adults…
Holding and responding build trust
Erikson believed that two actions on the part of parents and teachers help babies develop this basic sense of trust: holding babies close and having warm physical contact with them when they are being fed and responding right away to their distress when they cry or fuss. Both…
The myth of spoiling babies
In every child development course I’ve ever taught, someone has asked about “spoiling” children by responding to them when they cry. Once an infant teacher rolled her eyes at me as she walked with a screaming baby and said, “This child is just too attached to her parents! I’m…
Responsiveness is the opposite of spoiling
Erikson’s theory says that babies will develop the strongest sense of security if they know that adults will come running when they cry. Then, when they are a little older, they will be able to cope with delayed gratification of their needs. By meeting their needs quickly and…
Babies cannot be too attached
Erikson’s theory of infant development assures teachers and parents that it is impossible for babies under a year of age to be “too attached” to the special adults in their lives. The teacher in the story above who wanted to teach the baby that adults can’t always be there was…
Attachment matters even when it ends
Like the old adage “It’s better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all,” Erikson’s theory confirms that strong relationships with a few significant adults in the first year of life are important, even if the babies have to separate later from the people to whom…