Unit 4 - Attachment

• Motherhood


  Becoming a mother is a life-long responsibility and is filled with moments of happiness, pride, and emotions. It can very well be called a roller coaster ride. And a child always looks up to their mother for guidance, advice, and support. There is so much a mother does constantly for the child, knowingly and unknowingly to aid the child's development.
• Establishing early attachment styles

  • Our early attachment styles are established in childhood through the infant/caregiver relationship
• Build The First Bonds Of Emotional Attachment


  As a mother and the primary caregiver in the child's earliest days, weeks and months, you are the child's first link of any emotional bonding and attachment. Your baby will learn their first emotions in relation to you. The way you bond with your baby in the earliest months and years will leave a deep impact on your child's overall well-being and development. You will become your child's role model and the mother and child relationship will greatly influence the way they behave in social and emotional settings, especially in later years. Reactions to your child's needs and nurturing needs will teach children about others' and their emotional requirements.
• Teach Them About Trust And Security

  Children will learn from you are learning to trust and providing emotional security. As a mother, you have the onus of teaching your child about the importance of being able to trust and be trustworthy. If your child can trust you, they will have confidence and high self-esteem. Be around when your child needs you and always make sure you support them and encourage them to do better. Your encouragement will show your child that your love for them is a constant, and it will make them more secure. Be honest with your child and teach them the importance of always telling the truth.
• Be Sensitive


  As a mother, there will be times when you feel that nothing is going the planned way. It is natural to lose your cool and give up in despair, but wait. Think from the point of view of your child. Your child will learn a big lesson in life from you – that of being sensitive towards others' needs and thoughts. As a mother, you may have a certain way of looking at things and doing tasks while your child may have an entirely different view. Understand your child's perspective too. If you feel that your child is wrong, try and explain to them what you feel he can do differently. Never look down on your child's way of thinking.
• Be Kind And Loving


  The way you behave towards your child will have a lasting impact on your child's development throughout their childhood as well as their adult years. Always be kind and loving towards your child, no matter how stressed or angry you are. Your response to your child's day-to-day activities and needs will show them the importance of being loving towards others. The way you speak to your child and others around you will teach your child about dealing kindly with others. Be kind and loving in your regular interactions with your child.
• Let Them Know That Family Is About Being Together


  Your child will very soon learn the meaning and importance of a family, especially from you. The way you interact with other members of your family will teach your child about many important relationships in life. Make sure you introduce your child to different family members and take them to various family outings. Make family time a regular affair at home. Encourage your child to spend more time with everyone in the family and have family meals together.
• Have A Positive Attitude


  Sure life is tough, but how you handle your problems can teach your child about the importance of having a positive attitude. Your response towards various problems, whether small or big, will show your child that having a positive attitude can help overcome many difficulties. Try to make the child understand in their own language by formulating stories around real-life events. Be positive and teach your child always to think positive. Encourage your child to learn from their mistakes and never to give up. Your child may not understand it now, but as they grow up, they will appreciate the lessons they learned from you.
• Encourage Your Child To Work Hard

  No one can teach your child the value of hard work as much as you can! Your child may feel that working hard is something that makes you tired at the end of the day. But remind them of the immense pleasure and satisfaction it gives you to ensure your child's well-being. Also, when your child puts in effort to participate in any activity or help you in any tasks, do not praise them for their results but their dedication and hard work. Encourage your child to participate with you in different tasks and appreciate the hard work not the result.
• Teach Them The Importance Of Discipline And Routine


  In their earlier years, your child will be most comfortable while following a set pattern in their daily life. Show your child how you effectively manage time and commitments by following a routine. Teach your child the importance of discipline and make sure you also follow some basic routines in your daily life. Sit with your child and chalk out a daily routine. Show your child how it will help them accomplish more tasks in a smaller amount of time.
• Let Them Practice Empathy

  Your child may or may not be a sensitive person. Teach them the importance of empathy and how to practice it. To teach them empathy, you can demonstrate it in your actions and interactions with others to set an example for your child. You can even put forth certain scenarios and ask them how they would react and then share how they can be more emphatic in those situations. Watch movies or read stories that clearly depict the importance of empathy. Ask them to observe carefully to understand how to be more sensitive to others feelings.
• How does a mother's mental health affect a child's development?
• How does a mother's emotional availability impact a child's emotional regulation?
• How does a mother's parenting practices affect a child's social, emotional, and cognitive development?
• Father's Adult Attachment Style May Be Directly Related to Anxiety in Children
• Attachment


  A special emotional relationship that involves an exchange of comfort, care, and pleasure.
• Attachment theory


  • The roots of research on attachment began with Freud's theories about love, but another researcher named John Bowlby is usually credited as the father of attachment theory. John Bowlby devoted extensive research to attachment, describing it as a "lasting psychological connectedness between human beings." Bowlby shared the psychoanalytic view that early experiences in childhood are important for influencing development and behavior later in life. John Bowlby and Mary Ainsworth were two prominent researchers who advanced the theory of attachment as related to human development.
• Attachment (Bowlby's view)


  Attachment had an evolutionary component; it aids in survival. He believed that this propensity to make strong emotional bonds with specific individuals was an essential part of human nature. Attachment theory focuses on relationships and bonds (particularly long-term) between people, including those between a parent and child and between romantic partners. It is a psychological explanation for the emotional bonds and relationships between people.
• Characteristics of Attachment (Bowlby)

  • Proximity Maintenance: The desire to be near the people we are attached to.
  • Safe Haven: Returning to the attachment figure for comfort and safety in the face of a fear or threat.
  • Secure Base: The attachment figure acts as a base of security from which the child can explore the surrounding environment.
  • Separation Distress: Anxiety that occurs in the absence of the attachment figure.
• Factors That Influence Attachment Styles (Bowlby)


  • Consistent Care Leads to Trust
  • Early Experiences are Critical
  • Expectations Stem from Experiences
  • Opportunity For Attachment
  • Quality Caregiving
• Consistent Care Leads to Trust

  Children raised with confidence that their primary caregiver will be available to them, they are less likely to experience fear than those raised without such conviction.
• Early Experiences are Critical


  Believed this confidence is forged during a critical development period, infancy, childhood, and adolescence. The expectations formed during that period tend to remain relatively unchanged for the rest of the person's life
• Expectations Stem from Experiences


  Expectations that are formed are directly tied to experience. In other words, children develop expectations that their caregivers will be responsive to their needs because, in their experience, their caregivers have been responsive in the past.
• Opportunity For Attachment


  Children who do not have a primary care figure, such as those raised in orphanages, may fail to develop the sense of trust needed to form an attachment.
• Quality Caregiving


  When caregivers respond quickly and consistently, children learn that they can depend on the people who are responsible for their care, which is the essential foundation for attachment.
• Stages of Attachment


  • Pre-attachment (Birth To 6 Weeks)
  • Attachment-in-the-making (6 weeks to 8 months)
  • Clear-cut Attachment (8 Months To 18 Months)
  • Formation Of Reciprocal Attachment (18 Months To 2 Years)
• Pre-attachment (Birth To 6 Weeks)


  Built-in signals, such as crying and cooing, bring a newborn baby into close proximity with their caregiver. Babies recognize a caretaker's smell and voice and are comforted by these things. When the caretaker picks up the baby or smiles at her, the beginnings of attachment are forming. However, complete attachment has not yet occurred, so the baby is still comfortable being left with an unfamiliar person.
• Attachment-in-the-making (6 weeks to 8 months)


  Attachment is getting stronger during this stage, and infants respond differently to familiar people than they do to strangers. For example, a 5-month-old baby will be more "talkative" with his mother rather than with an uncle he sees only once a month. He will also be calmed more quickly by the mother's presence than by the uncle's. Separation anxiety (becoming upset when a trusted caregiver leaves) has not set in yet but will be seen in the next stage. Parents continue to build attachment by meeting the baby's basic needs for food, shelter, and comfort.
• Clear-cut Attachment (8 Months To 18 Months)

  Attachment to trusted caregivers continues to strengthen in this stage, and separation anxiety is likely in a caregiver's absence. Toddlers generally want to be with their preferred caregiver at all times, and they will follow the caretaker, climb on them, or otherwise do things to keep the caregiver's attention. Parents and other important adults in the child's life continue to strengthen attachment by being receptive to the child's needs for attention, meeting basic needs, and playing with the child.
• Formation Of Reciprocal Attachment (18 Months To 2 Years)


  Rapid language growth facilitates the understanding of new concepts, and children begin to understand a parent's coming and going. For example, children can now understand that a parent returns home from work at a certain time each day, so separation anxiety lessen. Although the child may do things to gain extra time with the parent prior to departure or to keep the parent from leaving. Parents can help a child form secure attachment by explaining things to them, by being present as much as possible, and by continuing to meet basic needs.
• Ainsworth's Types of Attachment


  • In 1970, Mary Ainsworth built on and expanded Bowlby's ideas, coming up with a more nuanced view of multiple types of insecure attachment. Ainsworth's primary contribution to attachment theory comes in the form of a study known as the Strange Situation. In this study, Ainsworth placed children between the ages of 1 to 2 years in unfamiliar situations to assess the type and level of their attachment to their caregivers. The response to a situation in which they were briefly left alone and then reunited with their mother was studied.
• Ainsworth's Strange Situation Assessment Sequence

  • The parent and child are alone in a room.
  • The child explores the room with parental supervision.
  • A stranger enters the room, talks to the parent, and approaches the child.
  • The parent quietly leaves the room.
  • The parent returns and comforts the child.
• Ainsworth's Types of Attachment

  • Secure attachment
  • Insecure-avoidant attachment
  • Insecure-ambivalent attachment
  • Disorganized-insecure attachment
• Ainsworth's Strange Situation Assessment Sequence


  • Parent and child alone in a room
  • Child explores room with parental supervision
  • Stranger enters, talks to parent, approaches child
  • Parent quietly leaves room
  • Parent returns and comforts child
• Ainsworth's Types of Attachment

  • Secure Attachment
  • Ambivalent - Insecure Attachment
  • Avoidant - Insecure Attachment
  • Disordered Attachment
• Researchers Main and Solomon added a fourth attachment style known as disorganized-insecure attachment
• Numerous studies have supported Ainsworth's conclusions and additional research has revealed that these early attachment styles can help predict behaviors later in life
• Secure Attachment


  • Children become visibly upset when caregivers leave and are happy when parents return
  • Readily accept contact initiated by parent
  • Seek comfort from parent or caregiver when frightened
  • Prefer parents to strangers
• Secure Attachment Parents


  • Play more with their children
  • React more quickly to children's needs
  • Generally more responsive to children
• Securely Attached Children


  • More empathetic
  • Less disruptive, less aggressive, more mature