3.3 Strengthening caregiving practices
…The nurturant qualities of the environments where children grow up, live and learn – parents, caregivers, family and community – will have the most significant impact on their development” (Irwin et al., 2007, p. 3).
Babies are dependent on others for survival. Earlier in this module, Stuart Shanker explained that when infants are born, they are “fetuses outside the womb” for the first nine months. They rely on caregivers for survival. We also learned about the symbiotic nature of genetics and experience in determining how development unfolds. Thirdly, we have repeatedly heard the evidence that what happens early sets the foundation for long-term health and developmental outcomes. The caregiver-child relationship is absolutely critical to early brain development and key to the child’s survival health and development.
First and foremost, the physical and social environments young children experience are created and then mediated in relationships with the adults who care for them. During conception the growing infant is entirely dependent on the uterine environment. After birth, infants remain dependent on adults for sustenance and physical care. Just as important, infants need special caring relationships. Breastfeeding provides optimal nutrition and supports strong attachment relationships. As infants grow into early childhood, their needs for caring relationships and physical protection continue. Early caring relationships are a filter for experiences that drive the development of neural pathways involved in sensory perception, stress response patterns, self-regulation language and central conceptual structures.
Early childhood practitioners can capitalize on the power of children’s attachment relationships with parents and other primary caregivers and create opportunities to support, coach and mentor these relationships as a base for development and learning. It is essential that responsive caregiving, one of the components of the Nurturing Care Framework (NCF), is modelled, encouraged and supported in any and all programs or interventions for children and families.
The next link provides some useful resources that can be used to help children in your country or community to “survive and thrive to transform health and human potential”.
How can this information be used to promote nurturing care for early childhood development in your country or context?
In addition, there are times when parents need specific assistance or support, tailored perhaps to specific needs of their child, or perhaps related to a particular situation. The NCF website provides a multitude of resources to support parents during these challenging times. How might these posters with practical parenting tips be useful? Note that they are available in over 50 languages!
Providing nurturing responsive care is particularly difficult during a stressful time such as the COVID-19 pandemic. Self-care is important for both caregivers and parents. View the next video, that it is also available in Arabic, Mandarin, French, Russian and Spanish. The link that follows provides ideas about how this video can be shared through social media.
Social media ideas to share the video, Responsive caregiving during the COVID-19 pandemic, are included in the following link.
It is evident that providing parents with resources and support is important – and not just during a pandemic! In addition, many argue that interventions to support vulnerable children also need to focus on this relationship. A review authored by Dr. Linda Richter laid the groundwork for “including interventions to improve the relationship between the caregiver and the child in an overall strategy to improve the child’s survival, health and development” (WHO, 2004, p. vii).
There are a variety of different programs and interventions that foster positive caregiver-child relationships and caregiving practices. The following program is one such example.
Care for Child Development
Care for Child Development (CCD) is an intervention program developed by the World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF as part of the Integrated Management of Childhood Illnesses (IMCI) strategy. CCD focuses on building the skills of family members to support and strengthen relationships with their young children through sensitive and responsive interactions. Through simple communication and play activities, parents learn ways to interact and nurture their children to promote healthy growth and development. Explore information about the Care for Child Development program, including program materials, in the following website.
Listen as Oscar Kadenge, early childhood development manager, Kenya Country Program, PATH, describes the benefits of integrating the Care for Child Development program in a health care facility.
In the next video, Najma Rashid, early childhood development technical advisor for the Aga Khan Foundation – East Africa, describes Care for Child Development and how Community Health Volunteers are helping parents/caregivers understand the importance of the early years.
Watch as a Community Health Volunteer (CHV) visits a mother and her young child in the next video. The CHV talks with the mother about playing and communicating with her young son.
What features of Care for Child Development make it a particularly effective model for improving outcomes for children?
What factors allow this strategy to be “scaled up” fairly easily?
Are there other programs you are aware of that use a counselling approach with caregivers? How would you rate their success?
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