Relationships and Brain Development

Relationships built with children have a significant impact on their brain develops and growth.  One of the first things a baby learns to do is express their emotions and how to regulate them. Emotional skills are developed in the first weeks and months of a baby’s life. Their emotional development in this early stage lays the foundation for a baby’s future mental health. These skills are developed with significant caregivers when they develop secure attachments with them.

Our educators achieve secure attachments with children by;
•    A warm and friendly greeting upon arrival
•    Responding to children’s cues and ensuring all their needs are met throughout the day – we discuss a routine with families before they commence care to avoid disruptions to a child’s routine at home
•    Having group and small group experiences to share emotions and engage in everyday activities
•    Providing ongoing opportunities for fun play time
•    Facilitating optimal brain development by continually stimulating their learning
•    Stimulating their curiosity to explore and learn with our weekly program for indoor and outdoor play

How do we build a strong relationship with your child?
We recognise that babies work very hard to communicate with us. We ask new families to visit on an Orientation day before commencing to learn more about your child.  By responding promptly and sensitively to a baby’s efforts to communicate (crying, smiling, looking into our eyes) this helps to build our relationship.
Babies need us to;
•    Notice promptly when babies and children are communicating something
•    Interpret their cues
•    Respond and meet their needs
•    Engage in frequent communication
•    Be emotionally available

How you can develop a strong attachment with your precious baby;
•    Get to know you baby – likes, dislikes, particular needs
•    Learn about your baby’s cues and how to respond to them
•    Talk to your baby before you make sudden changes e.g. moving baby to nappy change area for a change. This develops ability to predict changes, develops language and support feeling of safety and security
•    Find a routine that suits you and your baby, but try to be flexible
•    Copy your baby’s noises and gestures and turn take with this early conversation
•    If your baby looks away or show signs of tiredness try again later
•    Make lots of eye contact, baby’s love this
•    Comfort baby when they are upset promptly
•    Understand and get to know your babies world
•    Try to identify what your baby is trying to learn to do
•    Remember you are the most important part of your baby’s life
•    Build a support network – of course we can help with that!