Chapter 8. “Happy Kids” Childcare
8.1
You just graduated from college and have your first job in your chosen field! You are the new director of a local childcare center, which provides day care for children age 6 weeks to 5 years. When you applied for the position, you were amazed at how well the caregivers interacted with the children and how each room was tailored to the developmental needs of the different-aged children. As director, your first task is to review the curriculum for each age group, assess the appropriateness of each room, and see where changes may be needed. You are eager to get started.
Ainsworth, M. D. S., Blehar, M. C., Waters, E., & Wall, S. (1978). Patterns of attachment: A psychological study of the strange situation. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Golinkoff, R. M., Can, D. D., Soderstrom, M., & Hirsh-Pasek, K. (2015). (Baby) Talk to me: The social context of infant-directed speech and its effects on early language acquisition. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 24, 339–344.
Schachner, A., & Hannon, E. E. (2011). Infant-directed speech drives social preferences in 5-month-old infants. Developmental Psychology, 47, 19–25.
8.2
It is your first day as the director and you have decided to spend it touring the facility, observing each childcare room. Your first stop is the “Baby Butterflies” room, which is for infants. The walls are yellow with butterflies and flowers painted on them. You see four cribs lined up against one wall—each crib with bedding, bumper pads, infant toys, and a mobile overhead. There are bouncy seats and jumpers on the floor, as well as a box filled with infant toys. There are two caregivers in the room with four infants. One caregiver sings to an infant while rocking in a rocking chair. The other caregiver feeds baby food to an infant sitting in a high chair, talking to the infant in a high-pitched, repetitive fashion. The other two infants are in their cribs—one of them babbling and the other sucking her fingers.
8.3
You admire several things about the Baby Butterflies room, in particular that the caregiver was using infant-directed speech when talking to the infant. Researchers report that infant-directed speech allows infants to choose adults who are more likely to provide them with chances to learn and interact Schachner, A., & Hannon, E. E. (2011). Infant-directed speech drives social preferences in 5-month-old infants. Developmental Psychology, 47, 19–25.. When they pay attention to people talking in their environment, infants are better able to “uncover” elements of language and engage in social interactions Golinkoff, R. M., Can, D. D., Soderstrom, M., & Hirsh-Pasek, K. (2015). (Baby) Talk to me: The social context of infant-directed speech and its effects on early language acquisition. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 24, 339–344.
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8.4
Another thing you like about the Baby Butterflies room is how one caregiver rocked and sang to one of the infants. That physical touch is an important part of infant development and plays an important role in attachment. There are three main types of attachment responses: secure attachment, avoidant attachment, and ambivalent attachment. Ideally, parents and caregivers provide a secure base for infants, and are ready to help regulate emotions or meet other needs. This makes infants feel comfortable exploring their environments. Development is greatly influenced by the quality of an infant’s attachment to caregivers
Ainsworth, M. D. S., Blehar, M. C., Waters, E., & Wall, S. (1978). Patterns of attachment: A psychological study of the strange situation. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
The way the caregiver interacted with the infant also supports Erik Erikson’s view of socioemotional development. According to Erikson, human development is marked by eight psychosocial stages that include a developmental task or emotional crisis that must be handled successfully to allow for healthy psychological growth. According to Erikson, infants are in the trust versus mistrust stage until 1 year of age.
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8.5
Next you tour the “Tiny Tots” (age 1–2 years) and the “Little Scientists” rooms (age 2–3 years). Each room is decorated based on a theme and is child-proofed according to the child’s age, such as mats covering the floor in the Tiny Tots room. Each room also has age-appropriate toys, such as toy cars, a mini-slide, blocks, and a play kitchen area. Many of the things in the Little Scientists room are similar to those in Tiny Tots, but there is also a dress-up area, an art area, and cubbies for each toddler.
In the Little Scientists Room, there are three caregivers in the room with eight toddlers. One of the caregivers sits in a rocking chair, reading a story to the toddlers. Some of the toddlers pay attention while others play with toys. Another caregiver prepares lunch and pulls high chairs away from the wall. In the Little Scientists room, there are two caregivers in the room with ten toddlers. One of the caregivers sets up coloring pages and crayons at the tables while the other caregiver directs the toddlers to find their seats. There are also restrooms right outside of the room for those children who are toilet training.
8.6
Based on what you have seen, you believe that the caregivers provide the toddlers with freedom to explore their environment. According to Erikson’s theory, this will lead to toddlers experiencing autonomy and independence. Erikson theorized that toddlers between 1–3 years of age were in the stage of autonomy versus shame and doubt.
Both rooms are also set up for optimal exploration and development based on Piaget’s theory of cognitive development. Piaget proposed that children’s cognitive development occurs in stages characterized by specific cognitive abilities. These stages have distinct beginnings and endings. According to Piaget, children are in the sensorimotor stage from birth to 2 years of age.
8.7
Lastly, you tour the “Preschool Adventures” (age 3–4 years) and “School Readiness” (age 4–5 years) rooms. Like the other rooms, they are decorated with a theme and have age-appropriate toys, such as a dress-up area, an art area, and giant Legos in the Preschool Adventures room. The School Readiness room is designed similarly to a kindergarten classroom to help prepare the children for school. For instance, the School Readiness room has a listening center, a math center, and an art center.
Both rooms share a joint-restroom. Both rooms have two caregivers and ten children. In the Preschool Adventures room, the children are picking up their toys and putting them back in their places as they get ready for music time. In the School Readiness room, the children are in the science center with both caregivers.
8.8
After visiting all the rooms, you noticed how the different childcare rooms provide the children with opportunities for reaching developmental milestones. For instance, according to Erikson, children between 3 and 6 years of age are in the initiative versus guilt stage. The caregivers in the School Readiness room have given children the responsibility of picking up after themselves, which fosters initiative among the children.
According to Piaget, children between 2 and 7 years of age are in the preoperational stage. Children in this stage of development ask questions and use symbolic thinking in their make-believe play. This is a time for pretending and engaging in fantasy play.
8.9
Question
Complete the following table based on Erikson’s stages of psychosocial development. Move items by dragging them to the correct location or by selecting an item and then selecting the location where it should move.
| Stage | Age | Positive Resolution | Negative Resolution |
| Birth–1 year | |||
| 1–3 years | |||
| 3–6 years |
8.10
Walking back to your new office, you pass the “Preschool Adventures” room and hear crying. You peek in and see that one caregiver has left the room and the other caregiver is talking to two of the children. You enter the room to help with the situation. The caregiver tells you it is snack time and each child was given one full graham cracker. The last child received a graham cracker that was broken in half. The other child became upset because he also wanted two crackers. The caregiver tried to explain to the child that the cracker was broken into two pieces but that it was still just one cracker. What can you do to help?
Watch the video below for some insights into why the child became upset and wanted two graham crackers.
An instructor and a boy are sitting at a table. Two rows of crackers lay on the table. They are placed one above the other. There are 6 crackers in each row. The distances between the crackers in both rows are equal.
INSTRUCTOR: Let's pretend these are your animal crackers, and these are my animal crackers.
The instructor points on two rows of crackers.
INSTRUCTOR: Now, tell me something. Do we have the same number of animal crackers? Like if you were going to eat all your animal crackers, and I ate all mine, would we have the same number of animal crackers to eat?
The boy points his finger on the crackers in each row.
BOY: Here-- there's 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6.
INSTRUCTOR: So we have the same. Is that right? OK, now watch what I'm going to do with my crackers. I'm going to do this. Watch me do it. OK, now do we still have the same number of animal crackers, or does one of us have more?
The instructor increases the distance between the crackers in her row of crackers. The boy starts to count.
BOY: Here-- 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12.
INSTRUCTOR: Hmm. So do we have the same number to eat, or does one of us have more?
BOY: One of us has more-- you.
INSTRUCTOR: I have more? Well that's kind of not fair, is it?
BOY: Yeah.
INSTRUCTOR: How can you tell that I have more?
BOY: Because it's a big line, like vrreeow.
INSTRUCTOR: Oh, it's a big line.
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8.11
Now that you helped to resolve the issue in the “Preschool Adventures” room, you continue back to your office. As you think about the childcare rooms and providing opportunities for optimal development, you wonder what would happen if a caregiver wasn’t responsive. Next, watch the video as you think about how caregivers should interact with the children at “Happy Kids.”
DOCTOR EDWARD TRONICK: Babies this young are extremely responsive to the emotions, and the reactivity, and the social interaction that they get from the world around them. This is something that we started studying 34 years ago, when people didn't think that infants could engage in social interaction.
In this "Still Face" experiment, what the mother did was, she sits down and she's playing with her baby who's about a year of age.
MOTHER: Are you my good girl?
EDWARD TRONICK: And she gives a greeting to the baby, the baby gets a greeting back to her. This baby starts pointing at different places in the world, and the mother's trying to engage her and play with her. They're working to coordinate their emotions and their intentions, what they want to do in the world. And that's really what the baby is used to.
And then we asked the mother to not respond to the baby. The baby, very quickly, picks up on this, and then she uses all of her abilities to try and get the mother back. She smiles at the mother, she points, because she's used to the mother looking where she points. The baby puts both hands up in front of her and says, what's happening here? She makes that screechy sound at the mother, like, come on, why aren't we doing this?
Even in this two minutes, when they don't get the normal reaction, they react with negative emotions; they turn away, they feel the stress of it, they actually lose control of their posture because of the stress that they're experiencing.
[BABY CRYING]
MOTHER: OK, [INAUDIBLE]. I'm here. And what are you doing? Oh, yes. Oh, what a big girl.
EDWARD TRONICK: It's a little like, the good, the bad, and the ugly. The good is that normal stuff that goes on, that we all do with our kids. The bad is when something bad happens, but the infant can overcome it. After all, when you stop this Still Face, the mother and the baby start to play again. The ugly is when you don't give the child any chance to get back to the good. There's no reparation, and they're stuck in that really ugly situation.
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What is some parenting advice you would offer to help foster secure attachment in children?
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