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Rebecca Chicot PhD, Mother Baby Attachment Expert
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Child development expert with a Phd from Cambridge University. She has worked on several best-selling books and BBC documentaries.
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Child development & learning

Attachment

For optimal development, children need to develop a secure attachment to their primary caregiver or parents. There's a lot you can learn about providing this vital base for your child.
In Short
Remember a 'good parent' is primarily a loving one. You don't have to be perfect - there's really no such thing. You just have to be present and as warm and positive as you can be. A 'good enough' parent!

Securely attached children go on to be more independent, more resilient, more content and better able to have good relationships as adults.

‘All happy families resemble one another, but each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.’
Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy

I think Tolstoy hit the nail on the head with this statement that opens his novel Anna Karenina. Happy families, where parents and children all feel happy, respected and loved, all communicate love, happiness, respect and sensitivity. These are the main things that your child will need to thrive throughout their lives.

Beyond that, parents are as unique as their children and we all come to parenting with our own histories, philosophies and hopes. This means that a child’s experience of their parents has big implications for the type of child and adult they become. This can feel like a huge responsibility as a parent but the good news is that some simple and effective changes in your parenting style can really promote the happy and positive development of your child.

Attachment theory

The bond between you and your child is perhaps the most profound way that your parenting style affects their ‘personality.’ I was fortunate enough to complete my PhD in Parenting and Child Development at the Sub-Department of Animal Behaviour at the University of Cambridge. The director of the Sub-Department was Professor Robert Hinde, who worked with John Bowlby who was the father of Attachment Theory based on his observations of children needing long-term care in hospitals. After the war, the belief of the time was that parents should drop off the children at the hospital, and only see them when they were discharged even if the hospital stay was several months. The flawed thinking was that it spared the child from the sadness of saying goodbye each day. Bowlby challenged this belief and today parents frequently stay overnight on paediatric wards.

Attachment theory believes that as human babies are so helpless at birth, they need to bond with caregivers who are warm, consistent and loving. These caregivers (usually parents, though in Bowlby’s case it was his beloved nanny) provide their children with a secure base from which to explore the world.

In the years of childhood, this idea of a secure base comes to the fore as children want to explore and learn about the outside world but need a touchstone to keep them safe and reassure them.

Mary Ainsworth went on to assess and categorise the different attachment relationships that children had with their parents. She developed a now famous laboratory test called the ‘Strange Situation Test’ which allowed her to watch how mothers and children said goodbye and reunited during a short visit to the lab. The table below shows how differently attached toddlers (12-18 months) behaved during the Strange Situation.

Table:

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Secure attachment is the foundation of happy children, fulfilling relationships, resilience and good mental health. Children are more likely to be securely attached to their parents if their parents are warm, consistent and sensitive to their needs.

The concept of attachment has been taken on board by the ‘attachment parenting’ movement. Attachment parenting has a child-centred philosophy and looks to traditional parenting practices, such as extended breastfeeding, baby wearing and co-sleeping.

‘Good enough’ parenting

Donald Winnicott was a paediatrician and psychologist and peer of John Bowlby. He published his concept of the ‘good enough parent’ after the Second World War. He challenged the idea that parents are supposed to be completely perfect and endlessly patient sentient beings that prevent their children from encountering any conflict or strife in their life. Winnicott claimed that the fact that mothers were real people with real emotions actually facilitated their children’s development. I think this idea is reassuring to all loving parents: that you don’t have to be perfect, you have to be loving and consistent; that although flawed if you try your best for your children this will be good enough and they will thrive.

References and further reading

Bowlby (1980) ‘Attachment and loss’ Basic books

Attachment, exploration, and separation: Illustrated by the behavior of one-year-olds in a strange situation. MDS Ainsworth, SM Bell – Child development, 1970 – JSTOR

(1953). International Journal of Psycho-Analysis, 34: 89-97 Transitional Objects and Transitional Phenomena—A Study of the First Not-Me Possession 1

DISCLAIMER
This article is for information only and should not be used for the diagnosis or treatment of medical conditions. Essential Parent has used all reasonable care in compiling the information from leading experts and institutions but makes no warranty as to its accuracy. Consult a doctor or other health care professional for diagnosis and treatment of medical conditions. For details click here.