WHY IT MATTERS

Playing with children lovingly and responsively helps build

early attachment

Early Attachment - John Bowlby’s Ethological Theory of Attachment, which recognizes the infant’s emotional tie to the caregiver as an evolved response that promotes survival. The child’s feelings of security and capacity to form trusting relationships is dependent on the quality of attachment with the caregiver.1 Where there is a positive connection between an infant (or toddler) and a special adult, an attachment exists between them.2 When a mother provides consistent and responsive care to a child, the child develops attachment relationship with the mother. The special adult can be a mother, father, grandparents, or anyone that the child is in close contact with.

1. Berk, L. E. (2013). Child development (9th ed.). New Jersey, USA: Pearson Education.

2. Thompson, R. A. (2006). The development of the person: Social understanding, relationships, conscience, self. In Handbook of child psychology (pp. 24-98). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.

relationships. Children with
secure attachments

Secure Attachment - The infants use the parent as a secure base. When separated, they may or may not cry, but if they do, it is because the parent is absent, and they prefer her to the stranger. When the parent returns, they actively seek contact, and their crying is reduced immediately.1

1. Berk, L. E. (2013). Child development (9th ed.). New Jersey, USA: Pearson Education.

to their caregivers as infants showed better outcomes in social development such as empathy
1, 2
  1. Kestenbaum, R., Farber, E., Ellen, A., & Sroufe L. A. (1989). Individual differences in empathy among preschoolers: Relation to attachment history. New Directions for Child Development, 44, 51-64.

  2. Sroufe, L. A. (1983). Infant-caregiver attachment and patterns of adaptation in preschool: The roots of maladaptation and competence. Minnesota Symposia on Child Psychology, 16, 41-83.

, social competence
2, 3
  1. Sroufe, L. A. (1983). Infant-caregiver attachment and patterns of adaptation in preschool: The roots of maladaptation and competence. Minnesota Symposia on Child Psychology, 16, 41-83.

  2. Thompson, R. A. (2008). Early attachment and later development: Familiar questions, new answers. In: Cassidy J, Shaver PR, eds. Handbook of attachment: Theory, research, and clinical applications. 2nd Ed. New York: Guilford Press, 348- 365.

and behavioural problems during childhood and adolescence.
3, 4, 5
  1. Thompson, R. A. (2008). Early attachment and later development: Familiar questions, new answers. In: Cassidy J, Shaver PR, eds. Handbook of attachment: Theory, research, and clinical applications. 2nd Ed. New York: Guilford Press, 348- 365.

  2. Egeland, B. & Carlson, B. (2004). Attachment and psychopathology. In: Atkinson L, Goldberg S, eds. Attachment issues in psychopathology and intervention. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum, 27-48.

  3. Lyons-Ruth, K., Easterbrooks, M. A, & Cibelli, C. D. (1997). Infant attachment strategies, infant mental lag, and maternal depressive symptoms: Predictors of internalizing and externalizing problems at age 7. Developmental Psychology, 33(4), 681-692.

Holding and talking to babies during play is a form of contingent communication where parents pay attention to what babies are trying to communicate and respond positively and consistently. This mode of communication creates a secure environment that gives babies the possibility to trust that they have someone to depend on in case of need.

When early attachment relationships are mainly warm, positive and consistent, children feel safe with their caregivers, who become a "secure base" for them. As such, children feel free and confident to explore and interact with the world. This helps in their learning and development and builds resilience in the future.

Research into parent-child interactions found that face-to-face interactions between parent and child such as following babies' gaze, responding to them or talking about what they are looking at help build secure relationships and later, self regulation.

Calling your baby's name helps your baby develop self-awareness as a being who is separate from the people in the environment. Research on 1 to 2-month-old babies showed that infants begin to manifest a clear sense of their agency in the world at around two months of age. Babies could start to control how strongly they sucked at a bottle to get what they wanted instead of allowing external factors to influence the process. This stage is known as the

intersubjectivity

Intersubjectivity - Intersubjectivity, the process whereby two participants who begin a task with different understandings arrive at a shared understanding.4 Intersubjectivity promotes a common ground for communication, where one adjusts to the other person’s perspective. The capacity for intersubjectivity is present in parent-infant mutual gaze, exchange of vocal and emotional signals, imitation, and joint play with objects, and in toddlers’ capacity to infer others’ intentions.5, 6

4. Newson, J., & Newson, E. (1975). Intersubjectivity and the transmission of culture: On the social origins of symbolic functioning. Bulletin of the British Psychological Society, 24, 437-446.

5. Csibra, G. (2010). Recognizing Communicative Intentions in Infancy. Mind & Language, 25(2), 141-168. doi:10.1111/j.1468-0017.2009.01384.x

6. Feldman, R. (2007). Parent-infant synchrony and the construction of shared timing; physiological precursors, developmental outcomes, and risk conditions. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 48(3-4), 329-354. doi:10.1111/j.1469-7610.2006.01701.x

stage, where babies begin to understand that they are separate persons from people in the environment. With that awareness, babies will initiate interactions and respond to others. Calling babies by their names helps build self-awareness and facilitates babies’ initiating and responding when interacting with others.
10, 11, 12
  1. Feldman, R., (2007d.) Parent-infant synchrony: biological foundations and developmental outcomes. Curr. Dir. Psychol. Sci. 16, 340–346.

  2. Rochat, P., & Striano, T. (1999b). Emerging self-exploration by 2-month-old infants. Developmental Science, 2, 206–218.

  3. Rochat, P. (2001). Origins of self-concept. In G. Bremner & A. Fogel (Eds.), Handbooks of developmental psychology. Blackwell handbook of infant development (pp. 191-212). Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing.