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‘A GIFT FOR LIFE’

 

Watching and supporting your child’s development is one of the greatest joys of parenthood – you won’t want to miss a thing. During the first year many parents learn a lot about their baby’s growth and developmental milestones such as sitting up, walking, talking, weaning and so on. Today we are bringing your attention to one of the most important yet least spoken of developmental milestones-Emotional development.

Emotional development is often referred to as ‘infant mental health’ by early childhood professionals. In essence it is the baby’s developing capacity to recognise, experience and regulate emotions and form secure relationships. Much of our emotional understanding is established by our second birthday. It’s interesting that a child’s earliest conscious memory only emerges from age 3 whilst unconscious emotional memories are laid down from birth. However through extensive research we now know that if the process of emotional development is interrupted it can be revisited and restored so that those parts of our emotional brain that are underdeveloped can now be reactivated leading to greater emotional wellbeing.

The early development of emotional responses is highly influenced by the baby’s environment as they are not present at birth. This area of development is highly reliant on relationships, it is through these relationships with significant adults that children develop emotional wellbeing. These nurturing relationships are crucial for the development of trust, empathy, compassion, generosity and conscience. It is during those moments when a parent is present with their baby in a meaningful way that the development is activated, here the baby experiences being seen, they exist in the eyes of someone for whom they have the highest regard. Mealtimes are often an ideal time to give a spoon full of food and a spoon full of love!!

Laying down the foundation for learning emotional language also referred to as the language of mental health is essential. This process is present when a babies emotional initiatives are acknowledged by putting words on them for example “your enjoying your bath, you are happy”  the baby overtime begins to register their emotions and associated language. During the adolescent phase of development we often get concerned that teens don’t talk about their feelings however the reality for many is that the language of emotion is unknown or unfamiliar. When emotional development is interrupted or underdeveloped a young person becomes increasingly vulnerable to developing mental health difficulties such as depression and anxiety particularly during adolescence or in their early 20’s.

In attending to your baby’s emotional development from the beginning you are essentially giving them a ‘gift for life’.