John Bowlby's Attachment Theory

It is common knowledge that a parent is considered the most efficient caregiver for their children. It’s also known that with daily responsibilities of caring for a child financially, parents partake in full-time and/or part-time employment. While needing to do so, many children attend daycare/preschool facilities. Granted, it is the parent’s responsibility to cautiously select where they decide to take their children. This is because parents know that while they are away for numerous hours of the day, their children are in the hands of another care provider and that their care would have an enormous impact on their children. At a young age, a child’s social and cognitive skills are continuing to take shape and the amount of time spent in

This foundation theory developed by John Bowlby, focuses on the form, quality, and strength of human attachments made in early life and their effect on development and pro-social behaviors (Tuner, 2011, p. 30). Bowlby’s attachment theory diverged from Freudian theory in many important ways, none more so than his emphasis on the importance of actual experience to human development. In Bowlby’s view, the quality of interactions between infant and caregiver(s), beginning at birth, motivated specifically by the child’s needs for safety and protection, are central to lifespan development (Turner, 2011, p. 31). Bowlby’s main interest was the formation, beginning in infancy, of the behaviors that collectively compose the attachment behavioral system.

John Bowlby was a psychoanalyst who felt that a child’s mental health and behavioral problems could be accredited to early childhood attachments. Bowlby’s evolutionary theory of attachments says that before children are born they are genetically pre-programmed to generate attachments with others. Infant’s behaviors such as crying, smiling or laughing stimulate responses from their caregiving adults. Bowlby suggests that the cause of attachment is not food/nutrition but they need for care and comfort. Typically the infant will only bond with one parent and form one primary attachment that will be the basis for all future attachments.

John Bowlby (1907 – 1990) was a British Psychoanalyst best known for his research into attachment formation and his development of Attachment Theory. Bowlby’s evolutionary theory states that if a secure and strong attachment is not formed between the mother or primary care giver during the first weeks of birth and up to the first 2 years of their lives then this may impact on the child later in life. He noted that babies who spent much of the early weeks and months physically close to their mothers seemed to settle down and develop a close relationship than babies separated from their mothers at birth. It can also be known as ‘bonding’.

By implementing this concept of develop along with other positive methods of learning will aid in the baby/infant cognitive growth or brain development which is the erudition/intellect process of memory, language, reasoning and thinking. When you implement these steps of cognitive development you will and must consider the pros and cons of sending your infant to a daycare center because the correlations of how the parenting skills are implemented will let you known that good parenting will make good infants along with a common fact that day care will have its effect on the infant behavior.

When it comes to our children nothing is more important than their health, safety and development. In today’s society it is almost impossible for a parent to stay home with their children, more children are being placed in a daycare while both parents work. Daycare is beneficial for a child’s Social and Developmental skills, if the daycare is properly run. It is very important that the parents take the time to research and get to know the daycare that they are placing their child in. Not only could the childs safety be at risk, but so could their social and developmental skills.

Daycare’s three main areas of expertise are creating an environment for personality development, cognitive ability and educational readiness. (Eberstadt, 2004). It would be simple enough to say that modern daycare meets these goals. However, like most definitions, it can vary. In today’s society, daycare is seen as more of a typical workplace rather than an exciting learning environment. Daycare as it’s known today started back in France in the 1840’s. About a decade later, it came to America. Today, there are countless daycares all across America, varying in shape, size, and most importantly: quality of care. An association that checks early childhood credentials is the Childhood Development Associate. The CDA has six main goals, and the first (and arguably most important), is “to establish and maintain a safe, healthy learning environment”. These days, not every goal that is set is achieved all of the time. Daycare is harmful for all parties involved due to stressors for workers, parents, and children.

The theory of attachment was originally developed by John Bowlby (1907 – 1990), a British psychoanalyst. Bowlby’s explanation of attachment hints that children come into the world biologically pre-programmed to form attachments with other, because this will avail them to survive. According to Bowlby, crying, clinging and searching our behaviours displayed by infants as a result of separation from their primary caregiver and a response to re-establish proximity. Bowlby proposed the idea of monotropy, this is when an effective emotional bond is formed between an infant and one particular individual. Bowlby suggested that there is a critical period for attachment to be formed between an infant and caregiver. This means that if an attachment is not formed priority to the first two years of infancy it would not be possible to form an attachment after this period. Thus meaning that the child will suffer irreversible long-term consequences as a result of maternal deprivation. Bowlby used the term maternal deprivation to refer to the

The time a child spends in childcare is associated with the child’s social development. According to a reliable source [1] “More hours in day care during a child’s early years is associated with less social competence and cooperation, more problem behaviours, negative mood, aggression, and conflict.” The more time a child spends at a childcare centre means that they may have a lower level of maternal sensitivity. Maternal sensitivity is a mother’s ability to understand and act appropriately to her infant’s day-to-day behaviour, so if a child is behaving abnormally a child minder will not be able to respond to the child as promptly as it’s mother. [2] “There is considerable evidence that infants develop healthy relationships, behaviours, and

A study found that children who were placed in a quality day care center transitioned more easily to elementary school and higher classes. They were also likelier to attend college and find employment. Of course, there's no guarantee that all children who attend day care will go the same route but it increases the chances which is just as beneficial. Let's also not forget the other advantages

Many children often skip daycares and preschools, and start with kindergarten. But, what some parents do not know is that their child could achieve a lot from these programs. The kids are taught the basics of learning which include the alphabet, numbers, colors, etc. Day care centers are beneficial and helpful for kids and families because kids will most likely have better learning skills once they move onto grade school, people are working on trying to help child care providers and parents stay connected, and there are people who will support all the children in their learning process.

(eXtension) It is proven that children learn from hands on learning rather than sitting down and forced to listen to the teacher. Realizing that children have short attention spans made me automatically aware that by having children sit and listen to you for more than 10 minutes will turn into absolute chaos. They will get up and run around, and not pay attention to you at all. As for a daycare facility they have toys for children to play with not just any toys but toys that teach children how to differentiate colors, count your numbers, tell you what the animal is and what noises it makes. Therefore, daycare facilities have a huge impact on children in their basic learning and developing skills.

On average, children spend more than twenty hours per week in a daycare facility. Childcare facilities are linked to the emotional and social development. A researcher, for familtfacts.gov, Jenet Jacob Erickson Ph.D., suggested that children who enter into an establishment before they are a year old and attend until the age of six are likely to possess less social competence, cooperation and express more challenging behavioral problems such as aggression or negative moods. Children are very impressionable during this age range and are likely to act out in drastic measures due to the lack of knowledge on how to communicate their feelings. Children tend to crave attention from their parents by behaving in a disapproving nature. In return, parents respond by providing discipline. Typically, children do not understand the difference between negative and positive attention.

The use of child daycare has been debated endlessly. It has become hard to determine how it may aid in the development of a child’s cognition or if it hurts it instead. This is partly because of the wide variety of types of child care and the opportunities that are given to young children. Fortunately, measures have been created to help standardize what a daycare does and how it is run. In this paper, several studies are assessed and the criteria that daycares are held to are evaluated. The effect of home environment is compared to the effect of a child being at daycare during the day. It is important to establish a high quality daycare while simultaneously engaging the child in a healthy life at home.

The main issues addressed in this paper are evaluating the advantages and disadvantages on day care, based on different studies. The first section of this essay examines the potential positives effects of day care on the quality of children´s lives and their psychological development.