Children who feel safe, valued and supported by the important adults in their lives have the confidence to explore and learn about the world and are better able to regulate their emotions and behavior.

You can build Positive Relationships with the children in your care by remembering to give them P.R.A.I.S.E.

Giving a child P.R.A.I.S.E. means being:

Predictable – Predictable and consistent in your behavior towards the child, your reactions to their behavior and your expectations.

Responsive – Responsive to the child’s needs, both physical (food, shelter, warmth) and emotional (attention, reassurance, comfort).

Accepting – Accepting of the whole child unconditionally.

Interested – Interested and willing to invest time in getting to know the child and share their experiences.

Sensitive – Sensitive and in tune with the child’s emotions.

Encouraging – Encouraging of the child’s curiosity and emerging independence.

 

Children who do not experience Positive Relationships with the adults who care for them often use inappropriate ways to gain or avoid adult attention.  

These children may feel:

unsafe

confused

anxious

frustrated

overwhelmed

out of control

unloved

helpless

 

Useful Articles:

http://csefel.vanderbilt.edu/briefs/wwb_24.pdf

http://raisingchildren.net.au/articles/attachment.html

http://www.earlychildhoodnews.com/earlychildhood/article_view.aspx?ArticleID=715

http://www.easternflorida.edu/community-resources/child-development-centers/parent-resource-library/documents/attachment-and-bonding.pdf

 

Bibliography:

Read, V. (2014). Developing attachment in early years settings: nurturing secure relationships from birth to five years (2nd edition). Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge.

Cassidy, J., & Shaver, P. R. (2016).Handbook of attachment: theory, research, and clinical applications (Third edition). New York: Guilford Press.

Van Rosmalen, L., van der Horst, F. C. P., & van der Veer, R. (n.d.). (2016). From secure dependency to attachment: Mary Ainsworth’s integration of Blatz’s security theory into Bowlby’s attachment theory. History of Psychology, 19(1), 22–39.

Bretherton, I. (1992). The origins of attachment theory: John Bowlby and Mary Ainsworth. Developmental Psychology, 28(5), 759-755. Doi:10.1037/0012-1649.28.5.759

 

Images sourced from Pixabay.com

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https://pixabay.com/en/lonely-boy-child-sad-604086/