EDUCATING THE URBAN CHILD & ENGAGING THE URBAN PARENT/CAREGIVER

Attachment theorists Ainsworth and Bowlby define secure attachment as: The quality and types of attachment styles vary. A secure bond provides your baby with an optimal foundation for life: It provides a secure base from which the baby is able to explore the outside world, trusting that you as a parent will be there to support them.

Parents are a Child's First Teacher

For example, children with secure attachments are more readily able to adjust to life at school as they are used to consistent routines such as those established at home. In addition, if a child feels safe and loved, they are more likely to feel confident about themselves and to make friends and develop secure relationships with others, creating a better school experience. Children learn best through their everyday experiences with the people they love and trust, and when the learning is fun.

Building a secure attachment fosters a child's ability to learn to communicate their feelings. As you and your child bond, they instinctively learn how to establish a healthy sense of self and how to be in a loving, empathetic relationship.

On the other hand, an insecure attachment relationship is one that fails to meet an infant's need for safety and understanding, leading to confusion about oneself and difficulties in learning and relating to others in later life. Research has shown that secure attachments lead to positive self-esteem, independence, enduring relationships, empathy, compassion and resiliency later in life.

These behaviors are associated with better mental and physical health of a child, higher educational achievement, fewer behavioral problems, increased employment opportunities, and less involvement with social service agencies in adulthood. During the first 3 years of life, a child's brain is developing at an astonishing rate.

Developmental experiences in the earliest years determine the organizational and functional status of the mature brain. Deprivation of critical bonding experiences during development may be the most destructive, yet least understood area of child maltreatment. The first 3 years of life represent a critical period in which specific sensory experiences is required for optimal organization and development of the brain.

Therefore, abnormal environmental cues or interactions with a caregiver, develop atypical patterns of neural activity during critical and sensitive periods and can result in poor organization and compromised function. Secure bonding and attachment cause the parts of your baby's brain responsible for interaction, communication and relationships to grow and develop.

Factors in the Home | Urban Child Institute

It helps a child learn how to cope with adversity. During times of distress, our bodies activate a variety of physiological responses to stress. Research has illustrated that chronic, unrelenting stress in early childhood, without the supportive aspect of a secure attachment to a caregiver can be toxic to a developing brain. These first few years are when the foundational brain wiring is taking place and, therefore, stable, secure children are more likely to develop the neural circuits associated with complex reasoning.

Search form

Therefore, by fostering healthy early positive interactions, a child's physiological systems and responses develop healthy and adaptive patterns. Developing a secure attachment bond with your child builds the foundation for their ability to interact with others in healthy and adaptive ways throughout their lifetime. Given all of this information, what does this mean for parents and how can they foster early brain development and secure attachment?

One of the most fundamental interactions you as a parent can provide is emotional sensitivity toward your child. This is illustrated though appropriate emotional expression and reception to your child's needs.

What Is Parent Involvement?

The following strategies have been illustrated to foster secure attachment bonding: Parents should experience ease and spontaneity in words and movements when interacting with their child. This chapter focuses on the home environment and how positive interactions between parents and children can support healthy social and emotional development in early childhood. It also describes parental stress and parental mental health concerns in more detail. Both are significant influences on the social and emotional well-being of children, and help and support are available for both.

This chapter concludes with a discussion of social support, which was touched on in Chapter Two. Babies who receive affection and nurturing from their parents have the best chance of healthy development. What effect does warm, sensitive, and responsive parenting have on young children? It promotes feelings of safety and security, which provide children with the confidence to explore and engage with their surrounding environment. Children learn to trust that their parents will be there for them when they need something, when they are hurt, or when they have encountered something upsetting.

Nationally, 15—20 percent of parents are not regularly engaging in these activities with their children. Encourage parents to provide warm, responsive, and sensitive support to their children and emphasize the importance of comforting, reading to, and talking and playing with children.

Consider supporting , developing, or expanding programs that will foster the development of positive parent-child interactions. Model positive social and sharing behavior in your everyday interactions with children and parents. Learn more about Touch, Talk, Read, Play.

Every Parent can be a Better Parent. The developing brains of infants and toddlers are wired to expect responsive, warm, and sensitive interactions with parents and caregivers. Children as young as two can also experience sleep disturbances, become withdrawn, or display aggressive behaviors These and other negative behaviors can follow them into later childhood and adulthood. This effort provides books at no cost to families at pediatric visits and encourages and demonstrates reading to children. If a parent has depression, he or she is less likely to provide rich, positive experiences that promote healthy social and emotional development.

It can also compromise the quality of the parent—child relationship during critical years of development Only a mental health professional can diagnose depression. But there are short tests that assess depressive symptoms. Individuals with more symptoms or who show symptoms for a longer period of time may be depressed and should see a mental health professional for help. But even without a clinical diagnosis, depressive symptoms can affect a parent and how that parent interacts with his or her child.

If someone you know seems sad or withdrawn for a long period of time, and it is affecting his or her work or home life, encourage him or her to seek help from a professional. Provide training or resources to parents and community members about how to combat stress and address mental health concerns. A Tale of two Children, Part 5. Implications for Systems Serving Mother and Child. It is important to have people you can count on for support, particularly when dealing with stress. Social support can reduce the emotional distress of the parent, and help improve the quality of parent-child relationships.

When support and encouragement is given to those caring for a child, adults are better able to be responsive and nurturing parents. Social support— both from trusted medical professionals and from less formal networks, such as friends, family, and a faith community—help reduce the stress that comes with raising a child. Help parents access high-quality child care, which may provide respite and lower maternal stress while expanding the parents support network. The development of social and emotional skills depends heavily on the experiences that children have in their home. Children can thrive with regular, positive, parent-child interactions.

While parental stress and mental health concerns can jeopardize these interactions, mental health treatment and general social support of parents can alleviate some of the stress and strain of raising a child. This, in turn, will enable parents to focus more on their child and provide a warm, nurturing environment in their home. You can think of a child as being in the center of different circles of influence Figure 3. Family, day-care providers, peers, and religious institutions are most important for child development because the child spends the most time interacting directly with these groups.

Bronfenbrenner Ecological Systems Theory How you can help: Want to know more? Percentage who do not engage regularly in these activities with their children. Age of child was three to five years, except for reading in past week, where ages were zero to five. How do you know if someone is depressed?

Maternal anxiety and depression have been linked to a range of behavioral disorders in children in early life, including oppositional defiant disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and conduct disorders 37, How you can help If someone you know seems sad or withdrawn for a long period of time, and it is affecting his or her work or home life, encourage him or her to seek help from a professional. Social support can be provided in many forms. It can include money, resources, companionship, or providing assistance with tasks such as child care or running errands Regional gray matter growth, sexual dimorphism, and cerebral asymmetry in the neonatal brain.

Journal of Neuroscience, 27 6 , — Stable neuron numbers from cradle to grave.

• The Border Outlaws (Illustrated Edition) (Western Cowboy Classics Book 45)?
• ;
• Behaviour Skills For Teachers, Parents, and Support People.
• Selah.
• Tyre/Tire Markings! What do they mean?;

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 33 , — How the timing and quality of early experiences influence the development of brain architecture. Child Development, 81 1 , 28— National Scientific Council on the Developing Child. The timing and quality of early experiences combine to shape brain architecture. Child temperament and parenting. Handbook of Parenting, 1, — American Psychologist, 34 10 , p. Assessed in the strange situation and at home.

1. The Sun is Sleepy.
2. Nikon D60 Stay Focused Guide (Stay Focused Guides).
3. Culturally Responsive Parenting?
4. Moonshine Murder (Hawkman Book 14).
5. Living Your Confirmation: Putting promises into action.
6. Japan Style: Architecture + Interiors + Design.
7. Culturally Responsive Parenting | Urban Child Institute.

A prospective, longitudinal study from birth to adulthood. Placing early attachment experiences in developmental context. From infancy and childhood to adulthood. Illinois Early Learning Project website. Retrieved September , from: Learning as we go: A first snapshot of Early Head Start programs, staff, families, and children.



1. !
2. Parents are a Child's First Teacher | Urban Child Institute?
3. Implementing Data Warehouse Toolkit’s Concepts in Analysis Services and Automating Analysis Services Load Operations?

Department of Health and Human Services.