The Importance of Attachment in Early Child Development

If a child or a young person faces some sort of trauma, grief or loss, they face barriers in forming a positive relationship. They often find it difficult if they lost someone close to them. Childhood bereavement may have both a short-term and longer-term impact on children’s wellbeing, including their psychological health and educational achievement, which leads to how well a child copes with the situation and if interventions were not put in place this will lead to these children to have an attachment barrier when they grow up.

Positive attachments help the child to attain his full intellectual potential, think and perceive in a logical manner, develop social emotions and conscience, and begin to trust others as a result of this. Quality relationships help children to become self reliant, develop self worth, better cope with frustration, envy and jealousy, and overcome common fears and worries. A child, who is well attached to one care giver, can more easily develop attachments to others, such as siblings, extended family and eventually to friends. If this is taken away the child could develop into a dysfunctional young person, they will have difficulty coping and therefore the future will look dull for them.

If a young person has disability, they are already in a difficult position. Physical disability will not allow them to express themselves as they are totally dependent on their care giver. Due to the fact that a child or young person has disability they are more likely to be abused and be a victim in many forms of abuse whether this is at home or else where. The fact that they are much more harder work than a child with out disability they may feel they are a burden to the care giver so therefore this becomes a burden. Any spare time that would have been used to play with the child or the young person would turn into trying to make up for the exhaustion.

A child or a young person in care faces the most difficulty in trying to form a positive relationship. They often struggle due to themselves moving so many times or the change of staff. In my setting there is a young per son who has moved 22 times since the age of 2 and now she is 16. This just shows how difficult this must be for her and how she will be mentally coping. This young person has grown up knowing that there is no one there for her and that relationships don’t last. Although this is not true for some young people especially those in care face the bitter truth. There are many barriers that these young people face in attachment as they know there are different members of staff on duty whom operate in different ways. They form a bond with some staff then they have to wait a further week to see the staff again. If they are moved from the setting and staff don’t contact them they feel they were not an important part in the staffs lives, this is also a sad moment for them, which could lead them to self harm.