Attachments and the Role of the Caregiver

Positive caregiver-child interaction is crucial to positive bonding experiences and healthy attachment.  Even though interaction is a mutual process, in early childhood the adult is the stronger and wiser partner and is primarily responsible for developing attachment.

A child depends upon the adults in her life to provide a consistent, loving environment to promote attachment. The environment must be predictable and nurturing and must support exploration.  In positive caregiver-child interactions the caregiver:

• is emotionally and physically available
• is sensitive and responsive to a child's needs
• responds promptly and appropriately
• provides opportunities for exploration
• offers guidance
• provides a secure base of love and protection

Consistent and positive early interactions such as, holding, gazing, smiling, kissing, singing and laughing, cause specific neurochemical activities in the brain.  These neurochemical activities lead to organization, or wiring, of brain systems that are responsible for attachment.

Wiring for relationships occurs in the limbic system of the brain.  The part of the limbic system known as the amygdala receives and integrates the emotional information that comes in during the attachment process.  The hippocampus within the limbic system stores those emotional experiences that result from interactions.  Memories of emotional experiences stay in the limbic system, and even though an infant cannot  talk about the memory, it still has an ongoing effect on the infant.