LOOKING BACK AND LOOKING FORWARD Trust and attachment are lifelong issues. When conditions are right, parents and babies get on each other right from the beginning. The relationship that results serves both “hooked” well. It not only ensures the baby the nurturing and protecting he or she needs at the beginning, but also sets the stage for later relationships. Being attached feels good. It offers security. The job of the early care and education professional is to help support attachment to the family as well as encourage a secondary attachment in the center or family child care home. Attachment provides the security that the baby needs to move out from the parent and care provider to become a fully functioning individual. That subject is the focus of the next chapter. FOR DISCUSSION 1. Have you been aware of attachment occurring? Describe the kinds of interactions that encourage attachment that were part of this experience. Was synchrony involved? How did the attachment serve the people who were becoming attached? Tell about that experience. 2. What are your experiences with obstacles to the bonding or attachment process? Did the people involved get over or around these obstacles? How? 3. Discuss separation anxiety. What behaviors indicate the child is trying to keep the attached person from leaving? What emotions might a child display? How can an adult help the child to separate from the person he or she is attached to? 4. Have you had any experience with how child care might affect attachment? What are your ideas or thoughts about this subject? 5. What are your ideas, thoughts, or feelings about working with families around issues of attachment? What experience do you have in supporting parents’ attachment to their infant? WEB SITES Attachment Disorder Site http://www.attachmentdisorder.net/ Many resources and additional links here pertain to attachment, attachment disorder, and related issues. I Am Your Child
LOOKING BACK AND LOOKING FORWARD Trust and attachment are lifelong issues. When conditions are right, parents and babies get “hooked” on each other right from the beginning. The relationship that results serves both well. It not only ensures the baby the nurturing and protecting he or she needs at the beginning, but also sets the stage for later relationships. Being attached feels good. It offers security. The job of the early care and education professional is to help support attachment to the family as well as encourage a secondary attachment in the center or family child care home. Attachment provides the security that the baby needs to move out from the parent and care provider to become a fully functioning individual. That subject is the focus of the next chapter. FOR DISCUSSION 1. Have you been aware of attachment occurring? Describe the kinds of interactions that encourage attachment that were part of this experience. Was synchrony involved? How did the attachment serve the people who were becoming attached? Tell about that experience. 2. What are your experiences with obstacles to the bonding or attachment process? Did the people involved get over or around these obstacles? How? 3. Discuss separation anxiety. What behaviors indicate the child is trying to keep the attached person from leaving? What emotions might a child display? How can an adult help the child to separate from the person he or she is attached to? 4. Have you had any experience with how child care might affect attachment? What are your ideas or thoughts about this subject? 5. What are your ideas, thoughts, or feelings about working with families around issues of attachment? What experience do you have in supporting parents’ attachment to their infant? WEB SITES Attachment Disorder Site http://www.attachmentdisorder.net/ Many resources and additional links here pertain to attachment, attachment disorder, and related issues. I Am Your Child
CHAPTER+2+Supporting+Families+Around+Issues+of+Attachment.docx