Secure attachment & the Key Person in Daycare — A basic guide to attachment theory by Richard Bowlby.
This video has been divided up into 3 sections and includes the following areas:
Video 1 –
Secure Attachment & the Key Person in Daycare
Introduction to Daycare
Introduction to Attachment Theory
The Early Years Foundation Stage
Primary Attachment Figure for Comfort
Primary Attachment Figure for Joy and Excitement
Three Attachment Anxieties
Video 2 –
The Strange Situation Procedure
Secure and Insecure Attachment
Video 3 –
Can I Leave my Baby?
The Key Person
Becoming Attached to a Key Person
Impersonal Daycare
Psychological Defensive Strategies
Video 4 –
Conclusion
Acknowledgements
Transcript of opening section — Introduction to Daycare
Most parents now about the government’s plan to provide high quality affordable daycare, but many parents have heard scare stories that it might harm babies and toddlers. Since I retired from a career in scientific photography, I’ve been trying to understand more about daycare by reading research papers and talking to parents and professionals. This isn’t my profession, so you’ll have to make up your own mind about what I’m saying.
My conclusions are that certain kinds of daycare experience can benefit babies and toddlers, but that other kinds can harm them — the question is which ones and why? I’m going to start by looking at family bonds (attachment theory) then at beneficial experiences and then at harmful ones.
Most people who’ve grown up in close knit families know that when parents are busy their babies and toddlers are sometimes cared for by family members. This sort of family childcare’s been going on for thousands of years all over the world, and most children thrive on it. But one aspect that’s easily overlooked is that family members know and love the babies and toddlers they care for, and the babies and toddlers know and love the family members who care for them.
But family life in the UK is changing. Over the past 50 years we’ve needed more and more daycare and we’ve run out of family members to provide it free. Nowadays many parents have to work, and they need to earn more than it costs them in daycare expenses. This usually means having babies and toddlers cared for in groups by nursery staff, but it may be difficult for the babies and toddlers to love the staff in the same way they love a family member — but does this really matter?
Richard Bowlby — son of John Bowlby
Richard Bowlby grants permission for “Secure Attachment and the Key Person in Daycare” to be downloaded, reproduced and shown without restriction. Copyright and Reproduction-rights Richard Bowlby 2009
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