Infants & Toddlers

Home Away From Home Handouts 3/16/2011

CELEBRATE THE CHILD

by Baraba Pollock

What do we mean to celebrate the child? Don’t we do that everyday in our child care programs? During the month of April we have the national celebration of the young child. Also during this Month of the Young Child, we recognize and show appreciation to the child’s caregiver. As this very important person in the life of the child the caregiver deserves our gratitude and respect. PPP

As early childhood professionals you spend the day with very young children interacting and hopefully developing relationships with the child but how do you show the young child respect? This happens so automatically that caregivers do not even realize that their actions are demonstrating respect for the child. Actions such as greeting the child and parent as they arrive each day or standing three or four feet in front of an infant who is playing on the floor with a toy. Respect is demonstrated as the caregiver allows the child to look up and make eye contact before saying to the child, “I would like to give you a clean diaper”. The caregiver, who swoops down and scares the child as they are scooped up from behind and carried to the diapering table, may not realize that this is not demonstrating respect for the child. PPP

In an infant/toddler program, there are many caregiving routines such as arrival, diapering/toileting, hand washing, eating, sleeping, and departure that make up the day.  Many caregivers believe that it is important to plan learning activities to do each day, that there must be a curriculum. But we need to understand that the curriculum is not a separate part of the child's day but is the entire day, not separate from all from caregiving routines. These daily routines take up 75% of the childcare day and are a very large part of the day. During these routines the adult is able to use this opportunity to focus on the child and provide warm, responsive care as s/he interacts with the child in a relaxed and enjoyable time together. It is during these caregiving routines that build a relationship with the child. If you do a good job, the child will develop a sense of respect for themselves, which is the foundation for caring about and respecting others. From this relationship the child begins to feel competent and develops a sense of who they are. PPP

In her book, The Emotional Life of the Toddler, Alicia Lieberman (1995) writes that the toddler is one who walks alone. This is a very interesting concept, "walking alone". Just as the infant has had to develop the ability to hold his head steady, sit unsupported and then stand upright and balance on one foot before being able to walk alone, so too a lot has to happen for the young child to feel emotionally safe to want to "walk alone".

Toddlers, preschoolers, all of us need to feel emotionally secure before stepping out on our own or to even try something new. This emotional security begins at birth. In order for the infant to emotionally 'walk alone', it means that they are securely attached; that they have developed an attachment to someone who values and respects them. Infants and toddlers who have been cared for and respected by a caregiver become self-confident, cooperative preschool children who respect others.  PPP

In preschool programs there is a lot of pressure on caregivers to “get the child ready for kindergarten” without the understanding that it is more important to provide the child with a strong emotional foundation for life. Kindergarten is only one year in the life of the child, what happens after that? The Zero to Three organization completed research to look at the emotional foundations for school readiness. This Heart Start research looked at what was it that made some children successful in school and others not. This research found that it was not the knowledge of the colors, shapes, the alphabet or being able to count that made a child successful in school. Seven characteristics were found in children who were successful. All children are born with the second characteristic, that of curiosity. Have you ever seen a young child who was not curious? It is this curiosity that builds their sense of creativity and therefore, learning. PPP

The number one characteristic of successful children was found to be self-confidence. Confidence develops from caregivers who provide relationships that are respectful and nurturing where the child learns to trust and feels competent in their own abilities. Respect for the child can only happen through warm and responsive caregiving. From these daily interactions the child comes to develop a healthy sense of self. As the adult responds to the young child's cues the child is developing a foundation for cognitive, social and emotional learning as well as a foundation for future mental health.

Lieberman, Alicia. (1995). The Emotional Life of the Toddler. Free Press. NY.

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