Child Development is Interactive

It is long understood that whatever the answer is to the nature verses nurture debate, child development is interactive. Mary Ainsworth, who introduced the invaluable concept of attachment theory (John Bowlby along with her), commented that within the first year of life, there are one million interactions between parent and child which lay the foundation for trust, growth and development. Interactions create considerable contributions to all facets of the life course.

Interactions are central to physical, emotional, and cognitive development. Together parents, infants, toddlers, children, and adolescents play mutual roles in creating an optimal environment to foster growth.

Parent-child classes are invaluable to fostering the interactive connection which scaffolds the developmental experience of self-efficacy and independent learning in all domains.

The videos below feature little ones ages two to four years-old. Parents actively work with children on a long-term project which supports independent learning and self-efficacy.

In this video, a pair of siblings work side by side. They are different ages and have different skill sets that allow them to work at different paces. In the background parents with diverse parenting styles can be heard working hand-in-hand with little ones.

 

While this video shows the delightful art making process, the true invaluable treasure of this process, is the encouraging and rich parent-child interactions—even those who work silently, just being “there.”