“A Child forms one special attachment through life, which will act as a prototype for all future social relationships, disrupting this attachment can have severe consequences.’
– John Bowlby
Articles
“Psychology Works” Fact Sheet: Attachment in Children
Canadian Psychological Association
Supporting the Highly Sensitive Child: The Brain-Body Approach
Mona Delahook. (2022, May 29th). MonaDelahook.com
Want to Help Kids? Focus on Parent Teacher Burnout
Maryam Abdullah. (2022, April 6th). Great Good Magazine.
Meet a Scientist With a most Delightful Job: He Studies Baby Laughter
Lauren Sckenkman., (2019, June 5). Ideas.Ted.Com
37 Techniques to Calm an Anxious Child
Renee Jain. (2021, February 5). Huffpost.com.
Six Ways to Respond to Your Kids’ Big Feelings
Jessica L. Borelli & Stacey N. Doan. (2022, March 17). Greater Good Magazine
Understanding Emotion Regulation: The 3 R’s
Institute of Child Psychology
The Fight Flight Freeze Response
Braive
Fight Flight Freeze – A guide to anxiety for kids
Anxiety Canada
It’s None Of My Business If Homeless People Use The Money I Give Them For Drugs
Erin Khar. (2019). Huffpost Personal.
A Simple Gift: Helping Young Children Cope with Emotions
Infant and Early Mental Health and SickKids
A Simple Gift: Comforting Your Baby
Infant and Early Mental Health and SickKids
A Simple Gift: Ending the Cycle of Hurt
Infant and Early Mental Health and SickKids
Infant and Early Mental Health Promotion
- Infant and Early Mental Health Promotion is a great resource page from SickKids supporting infant and early mental health. The website has learning workshops, online classes, research articles, and lectures from proffesionals in the field.
- Attachment Theory in Action is a resource page from The Knowledge Center containing a wide variety of podcasts from professionals discussing attachment. Some examples of the podcasts include How We Become the Persons We Are; Becoming Attached; John Bowlby and Child Development; and Mary Ainsworth’s Strange Situation.
Reading Between the Line: Children’s Miscues and How to Make Sense of Them
Julia Donaldson and Lindsay Rautman. (2021, June 4)
For some great articles and resources on Infant and Early Mental Health Promotion visit SickKids.ca
Finding Healthy Attachment
Christina Reese. PESI.com
Teaching Kids About Healthy Friendships & Boundaries
Christina Furnival. PESI.com
Determinants of Child Development Lab
4 Ways Parents Can Calm Their Back-To-School Fears
Pooja Lakshmin. (2021, August 21). NYT.com
Here’s What We Know About Attachment Styles in the Work Place
The Attachment Project. (2020, July 24).
Five Ways You Can Help Ease Child Stress From the Last Year
Jackie Mader. (2021, July 8). The Hechinger Report.
Investing in the Emotional Wellbeing of our Babies is a Wonderful Way to Invest in our Future
Parent-Infant Foundation: First 1001 Days Movement
What is Infant Mental health? And Why Does it Matter?
Parent-Infant Foundation: First 1001 Days Movement
Evidence Briefs
Parent-Infant Foundation: First 1001 Days Movement
How a Fathers Love Helps Kids Thrive in Life
Maryam Abdullah. (2021, June17). Greater Good Magazine.
Building a Happy Baby: A Guide for Parents Leaflet
Unicef.org.uk
Relationships Are Important. How Do We Build Them Effectively With Kids?
Katrina Schwartz. (2020, January 16). Kqed.org.
This is Why Your Child Can’t Actually ‘Calm Down’ during a Tantrum
Christopher Willard. Mother.ly
The Toxic Events of Shaming Children
Rebecca Eanes. CreativeChild.com
New Neuroscience Reveals 5 Secrets That Will Make You Emotionally Intelligent
Eric Barker. (2020, January 23). Business Insider. Thriveglobal.com
Why Kids Need to Be Able to Tolerate Uncomfortable Feelings
Beverly Amsel. (2018, January 18). Goodtherapy.org.
Attachment: What works?
Donna Wittmer. (2011). Center on the Social and Emotional Foundations for Early Learning.
My Child and I: Attachment for life
Best Start Resource Center.
Baby Wants…..
Best Start Resource Center.
Learning How to Play and Playing to Learn: What Families Can Do
Best Start Resource Center.
Building Resilience in Young Children
Booklet for parents of children from birth to six years. Best Start Resource Center.
When Kids want Parents to Play all the time
Meghan Leahy. (2016). The Washington Post.
49 Phrases to Calm an Anxious Child
Renee Jain. (2016). GoZen.com.
How to Help Your Child Develop Empathy
Claire Lerner and Rebecca Parlakian. Zero to Three: Early Connections last a Lifetime.
Your Child’s Mental Health
Caringforkids.cps.ca.
Time In- Guiding Children’s Behavior
Parent Link. Australian Government. Women and Children’s Health network. (2016).
Self-Regulation from the inside out
Rosanne Papadopoulos. (2013). Brainwaves, Issue 35.
Parent-Child Attachment: A Bond of Trust
Center of Excellence for Early Childhood Development Strategic Knowledge Cluster on Early Child Development. (2012).
Children See Children Learn
Childrenseechildrenlearn.ca.
Self-Regulation for Parents
The MEHRIT Center. Self-reg.ca.
Ways to Make an Adopted Child Feel Loved
Maija Kappler. (2020). The Huffington Post.
Research
The Relationship between Child Stress, Child Mindfulness and Parent Mindfulness
Lea Waters. (2016). Scientific Research Publishing. Psychology, 7, 40-51.
In the Relationship Between, Lea Waters discusses the correlation between parents’ mindfulness, the indirect/direct relation it has on a child’s stress level, and provides useful suggestions for parents on how to increase their’s and their child’s mindfulness.
Waters identifies the urgent need for parents, educators, and professionals to have a better understanding of childhood stress, as it is increasing rapidly. Current research has recognized that 20-60% of children “worry a lot or a great deal”, depending on their geographical location, and 30-40% of children report “experiencing high rates of psychosomatic stress symptoms”, such as headaches, stomach pains, and difficulty falling asleep. Mindfulness has been shown to “reduce stress and anxiety while improving physical and mental health” and refers to one’s ability to be present in the moment and the ability to focus on their own “feelings, thoughts and bodily sensations”.
This study used a “community sample of 68 parent-child dyads”, with each dyad completing a self-report survey, and a two scale design to measures parent and child mindfulness. Results concluded that child and parents’ mindfulness ultimately impacted the child’s level of stress, indicating the importance of children developing mindfulness skills as well as their parents. Waters details steps parents and children can take to improve one’s mindfulness, such as education and frequent exercise.
What is a Secure Attachment? And why doesn’t “Attachment Parenting” get you there?
Diana Divercha. (2017). Developmental Science.
In What is Secure Attachment? Diana Divercha highlights the difference between attachment and attachment parenting. Many parents find difficulty differentiating between the two and often relate a secure attachment to attachment parenting. As Alan Sroufe explains, “attachment is a relationship in the service of a baby’s emotion regulation and exploration and consists of three functions”, while attachment parenting is a “specific set of practices”, such as co-sleeping and breastfeeding, which are “not proven to be related to a secure attachment”. The authors explain that while these activities are all good, what truly matters for attachment is the “caregivers’ orientation and attunement”: what are the caregivers emotional state when interacting with the infant.
Divercha goes on to discuss the scientific history of attachment and the important contributions John Bowlby and Mary Ainsworth made to the field. She explains why attachments styles are fundamentally important for the development of a child, their future relationships, and the impact attachment have on their own parenting. She provides the reader with a simplistic breakdown on identifing the formation of a secure attachment , between the ages of 0-3 years. Lastly, Divercha analyzes attachment and the neurological development it has on an infant.
Addressing Parent-Child Conflict: Attachment-Based Interventions with Parents
Aaron Kindsvatter and Kimberly J. Desmond. (January 2013). Journal of Counselling & Development. Volume 91.
In Addressing Parent-Child Conflict, Aaron Kindsvatter and Kimberly Desmond examine parent-child conflicts using an attachment theory lens. During family counselling sessions parents often present concerns for the parent-child conflict as a manifestation of internal disturbances, while underemphasizing the parent-child relationship. The authors believe therapeutic interventions which focus solely on intrapersonal explanations for the child’s behavior is problematic because parent-child relational patterns play a significant role in maintaining parent-child conflict.
Kindsvatter and Desmond proceed by identifying empirical support for attachment theory and parent-child conflict, and how attachment insecurity and emotion regulation impact interpersonal and intrapersonal behaviors. The authors go on to detail the effects of intergenerational continuity of parental insecurities and the parent-child conflict. Lastly, the authors explore various attachment-based therapeutic interventions to assist parents in resolving conflict.