Where a child experiences a warm, intimate and continuous relationship with her or his mother or other care-giver, that child would thrive. Such attachment experiences have a profound influence on the development of other interpersonal relationships that form in later childhood or adult life, and have implications for the way in which adults subsequently relate to their own children (Oates 1996). This bond develops in the early months and years of life, and is closely linked to the behavioural response of the parent and the ongoing cycle of parent-child interaction.īowlby (1969) proposed that for humans, and for infants in particular, survival depends to some extent on having access to such an attachment figure, usually a parent and most commonly the mother. The parental response to the infant's emotions or expressive behaviours usually results in the formation of an attachment bond between the two. The foundations for good mental health are laid down in the emotional development that occurs in infancy and later childhood and appears to be dependent upon the quality and frequency of response to an infant or child from a parent or primary caregiver (O'Hagan 1993 Oates 1996).

Child and Family Centres - The 'One Stop Shop'.Support Networks for Parents and Caregivers.Redefining Physical Abuse as Emotional Abuse or Neglect.

Failure to thrive meaning in adults