How Moms Respond to Babies When They Cry - Good Predictor of Secure
Think_n_See
How a mother responds supportively to a distressed baby can lead to the
baby developing healthy attachment to the mother later. How a mother
responds happily to a happy baby doesn't appear to have an effect of
developing healthy attachement.
An interesting, cool, new study.
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2006-07/uoia-dby072706.php
>From the article, " "A mother's sensitivity to her baby's distress at
six months was a significant predictor of the baby's attachment
security at 15 months, but sensitivity during times of nondistress was
not. It's important that babies become securely attached to their
caregivers because it's the foundation for future healthy child
development," she said. "
This is similar to the bigger idea we've heard on this site before:
losses matter more than gains. Negative things have a stronger effect
than positive. Some people in fact define happiness as the absence of
unhappiness. So when moms respond positively and supportively to their
baby, that's great. When they respond in a way that lets the baby know
they understand the baby's crying, in some emotionally responsive way,
then that's supposed to be great too, according to this new research.
The study doesn't mention what happens when moms respond unsupportively
and unhappily towards a happy baby - I bet that also has a negative
effect.
So, the upshot appears to be not necessarily to be happy all the time
with the baby, but to respond to the baby effectively, sometimes
happily, and sometimes supportively/caringly/comfortingly.
da5zeay
friend of mine. And it encourages me to consider the response in any
negative situation. It occurs to me that leadership is probably also
defined in terms of the negative things effectively responded to rather
than the good times. People tend to focus on the negative in the
workplace from their bosses, and often don't remember all the good
things that happen (like getting paid regularly).