Attachment is a term used in human development theory to describe healthy emotional relationships that begin with special relationships early in an infant’s life. We are born with a capacity to form positive, secure attachments, but their development is dependent on secure and responsive relationship with primary caregivers. Babies develop expectations of themselves and those around them through their experiences in the first year of infancy. Children whose emotional and physical needs are reliably met, and who are not subjected to trauma, in particular violence, will develop trust in others and confidence in themselves, and explore their environment in ways that facilitate learning.

Brain research has helped us understand emotional development and the critical role that secure attachments play in the child’s emotional and connotative development. High levels of stress caused by trauma and abuse, emotional neglect and social deprivation lead to higher than normal levels of stress related hormones. This can lead to impaired development.

Healthy attachments develop when a child can rely on primary caregivers to meet their needs – physical and emotional. Attachment can be helped by interacting with infants and children in positive ways, such as sharing love and happy experiences, establishing eye contact, touching, talking, being physically close, playing, and providing comfort at times of distress. ‘Attached’ caregivers are attuned to their baby’s signals. Babies, too, can be remarkably sensitive when parents are angry, unavailable emotionally or physically absent for long periods of time.

Attachment between a parents and child is a mutual experience which needs positive responses in both directions to develop and endure. Even when something has gone wrong and a relationship is tense or unhappy, children and their parents can be helped to enjoy and trust each other. A person’s lifelong ability to form safe, secure and happy relationship starts with his or her very earliest experiences, and can be influenced positively or negatively by later experiences.