Positive Relationships

Babies need love and attention from the day they are born. This is not just to meet their physical needs, such as feeding, changing, bathing etc. Love and attention from adults is really important for the development of good mental health, that is, the ability to form good relationships and to learn to develop in the best possible way.

Comfort to feel secure and understood young people need main carers and staff to give love, comfort and protection. Providing comfort means being warm and physical affectation and giving reassurance. It also means responding to the young people's needs. Babies and young people who have loving and caring early relationships will have confidence in their care giver’s availability and responsiveness. This helps them feel more confident to explore the new world around them because they know they have a safe person to return to when they need to. By watching and feeling how their carer response to them, they begin to learn important skills needed to make friendships. They also learn how to control their emotions by watching their carers. This leads to them being more confident and being able to cope better with stress and changes in their lives.

Attachment theory shows that babies need good attachment with their main carers to be able to develop into babies who feel safe, secured and loved if babies have all these then they develop and learn at a faster rate than a child who is anxious, fearful and lack confidence to explore and learn.