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Think back to when you were a young child.
Did you have a sensitive caregiver in your life?
What did he or she do to make you feel well cared
for? How might you define caregiver
sensitivity?
Early attachment theorists
define caregiver sensitivity as a caregiver's ability
to be aware of a child's signals and to evaluate and
respond to them in a meaningful, accurate, and appropriate way.
Children send signals to their caregivers all the time,
such as the infant who arches his back and cries when
hungry. It's how these signals are responded to
that shape the pathways for how the child will in turn react,
think, and behave. Caregivers who are
sensitive and consistent set a good foundation.
That's another one that's consistency, how you
respond to a child when those cues are given.
For instance, I have one baby in my classroom that I'll say, that's
his hungry cry, that's his tired cry, it's time for him to do
this or that, because they're just as expressive
as any other age person. I think sometimes people think...because they can't say
I'm hungry, I'm tried that they can truly let you know,
but it's really the observation and a lot of information from parents.
Before children start here, what we do is we have a sheet
of information that parents fill out. One of the questions is, do they have
particular cues that you see at home? We also spend time talking to parents.
Before children start, we ask them to come in and spend
time in the classroom prior to starting.
It usually does help the transition in much more easily and build attachments
earlier for children. We spend time talking to the parents
and seeing the child with the parent to see how those
cues happening. The heart of
sensitive caregiving is in the emotional bond between the caregiver
and the child. Being a sensitive caregiver
covers a vast range of skills, behaviors,
and understandings.
The more time we spend together
in happy, interactive experiences, the more
affinity we'll have for each other.
When children are responded
to with affection and support, they're better able to tolerate
negative emotions. The negative effect is replaced with the positive
effect.
Help children identify and express
feelings by using reflection, reading stories, and
singing songs.
Using gestures allows us to communicate with more than
just words alone: offer eye contact,
a smile, a reassuring touch.
Continual learning keeps us current in
child development, research, and best practices,
and helps us do our jobs well. The learning never stops.
It's every day I learn something new. I like to be able to walk out
the door saying, oh, you know I learned something new today. That's important to me.
The longer you do this the more responsive
and the more understanding you become of child's cues. So yes, you have to have
your education behind you, but the more experience you get working with
infants and toddlers is another way to really help figure out those cues
and be responsive to them. Visit Better Kid Care
www.betterkidcare.psu.edu
We care, because you care.
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