The Random House College Dictionary Revised Edition, 1975,

In the first rapidly changing year of their lives, they move from helpless dependence to mobile independence; from communicating with cries and coos, to understanding quite a vocabulary and using some words of their own.” (Page 127)When planning a physical environment for infants, there are a lot of key components to pay attention to, one of them being an environment to nurture trust. Infants are very fragile and emotional, it is important that we create a relationship of trust and security. In order to do this, the same adult must be present daily. This adult needs to be aware of the differences of each infant in the classroom. When the same caregiver is in the room every day, they are creating a relationship with the infants. They learn

A newborn has a lot to adapt to, thank goodness they are aided by caregivers to help them grow to be autonomous to their external world. There are three major tasks an infant needs to achieve before progressing in their development which are to orientate themselves into the external world, to form a capacity for self-regulation, and to establish a secure relationship. These tasks can be classified as the foundation for future development (Davies, 2011). Like any stage of development, there are a multitude of observational items to assess to ensure a child’s mental state. For an infant, the parent’s history, pregnancy, birthing process, the physical autonomy of the child, developmental milestones, temperament, and attachment should be addressed in observation.

“Within the nest of earliest caretaking, the baby’s experiences create her first senses of what this new world is like” (Lally, 2006, p. 72) in which case every infant is different in their needs and wants, therefore it is important

The critical period in childhood development is when the newborn needs to spend time with the mother. As the mother bonds with the child it creates a baseline of interaction where the child can learn how to trust the parent. Many newborns need to be close to the mother after birth because if not they are liable to fall into illness. Thus, in chapter one, Erikson’s idea of 8 stages of the human life span, the first one is trust vs. mistrust (Santrock 17). As the child receives the attention required it will learn how to trust adults, however, when going thru mistrust it is not receiving the care it needs and later on in life develops trust issues. Also it causes further more complications later on thru the child’s life-span

Infancy: basic trust vs. basic mistrust. A baby will either develop basic trust in his or her caregiver or will grow to view the world as a dangerous place, depending upon whether the baby gets sensitive, nurturing care.

During this period, the infant is in Erikson’s trust vs. mistrust developmental stage (James, Nelson, & Ashwill, 2013). Parents (and caregivers) provide nurturing and affection to the child. If the child receives care and believes that he or she will be taken care of, trust is established. This enables the child to continue forming loving, trusting relationships with others. Conversely, if the child doesn’t receive the necessary nurturing or attachment, then he or she develops a distrust of others.

“Individuals who care for an infant on a more frequent basis should be better attuned to the infant's unique physiologic and behavioral cues and to unique needs of the family (Alligood, M.R., & Mefford, L.C.).

It is in this stage the child learns if they can trust or not. When a baby cries the caregiver must see to it to find out what he or she need, and if the child is frightened will someone give comfort. If the needs are met the child learns how to trust that everything will be alright. On the other hand if the child needs go unmet then you will have a child with serve mistrust issues who will not be able to trust people around him.

The first crisis stage of Erik Erikson 's theory revolves on the infant 's basic needs and whether or not the child trusts or mistrusts their surroundings. The infant’s main question is whether or not the world is trustworthy and are their needs being met by the parents. The infant relies heavily on the parents, especially the mother, for food, nourishment, and safety. The infant’s relative comprehension of their world and the society within it is derived from their parents and interactions between parent and child. When a parent exudes warmth, love and affection to the infant, the infant will view its world as one of trust; however, if the parents fail to provide a secure environment and to meet the child 's basic need a sense of mistrust will result (Bee, p. 69). Because of this, Erikson suggested that the major development during this stage is for the infant to determine whether or not the caregivers are able to satisfy the basic needs of life.

Erickson’s first stage occurs during the first year of life, and during this stage the infant is unsure about the world they live in. The infant will look for there their primary care giver for stability and consistency of care. If the care the infant is receiving consistent, predictable, and reliable then the child will develop a sense of trust, and will feel secure when they are the child is threatened. Also, success in the first stage will lead to the virtue of hope. By developing this sense children will have hope that someone is there when crises arises. However, if the care has been inconstant or harsh the child will develop a sense of mistrust and won’t have confidence in the world around them or their ability to influence events. If this happens the child will carry a basic sense of mistrust and could develop anxiety and heightened insecurities (McLeod).

The definition of the word intimacy is one that is highly disputed. It is said that the term intimacy itself gives insight into its meaning. When the word is read as “into-me-see,” it can be deduced that achieving this level of connection requires one to disclose parts of himself to another person or group of people. To me, intimacy is the level of connection that is attained between two parties when one reveals a part of himself that he would only share after gaining a sense of confidence with the other, and the sense of acceptance displayed by the one receiving this information. Intimacy is not merely the admission of “secrets”, but rather the mutual trust that comes from these revelations.

Erikson’s first stage of development is the Trust versus Mistrust stage that occurs from birth till 18 months of life. According to Erikson this is the period in which infants develop a sense of trust or mistrust, depending largely on how well their caregivers meet their needs (Feldman p. 187). During this stage of my life I was being taken care of by both Mom and Dad, but primarily by Mom. My Mom was a stay at home parent while my Dad worked. Both my parents went above and beyond to make sure I had everything I needed food, shelter, clothes and most importantly love and affection. Through my positive experience in this stage I developed

If a child positively develops trust, he or she will feel safe and secure in the world. But, if a caregiver neglects or fails to provide adequate care and love, the child will come to the sense that he or she cannot trust or rely upon the adults in his or her life. Failure

The first stage in psychosocial development is Trust vs Mistrust which involves the age from birth to 1 year. Erikson (1968) has cite in Cavanaugh and Kail (2012) stated that trust is the basic of human development. The infant can feel protected or defended and trust if their parents response to their need constantly. By developing a sense of trust the infant can have hope that as new crises arise, there is a real possibility that other people will be there are a source of support

Infants are brought into this world in a very vulnerable state and even after entering childhood, children are still small, extremely-dependent human beings, who need sufficient support and attention from caregivers. In fact, dependency, on parents and/or any other caregivers, is vital to the survival and normal development of infants and children. For example, despite their expected inability to officially communicate