ZERO TO THREE has a great podcast series for parents, called Little Kids, Big Questions. Today I listened to “Early Experiences Count: How Emotional Development Unfolds Starting at Birth,” featuring Ross Thompson, Ph.D. and hosted by Ann Murphy.
In the podcast, Dr. Ross describes the emotional architecture of babies and toddlers, which is more complex than one might suspect, built upon even in infancy. Dr. Ross also talks about some of the ways parents can adapt their parenting styles to be more emotionally responsive to very young children, even in stressful situations, like a meltdown in the supermarket. The podcast is about twenty minutes long, and you can listen to the podcast in English in Spanish or read the transcript. Well-worth the listen.
In another demonstration of how remarkably sensitive young children are to the emotions of their caregivers, here’s a video I came across, Still Face Experiment: Dr. Edward Tronick. It shows the depth of emotion experienced by a baby when her mother does a “still face,” and highlights how tuned-in babies are to their caregivers responses.
It’s actually a little hard to watch, although it’s brief, because the baby is so intent on eliciting a response from her mother. However, you can also see the little one’s frustration melt away when her mother drops the “still face” and responds to her signals. Young children may be very sensitive to emotions, but they are also adaptable, experts in bouncing back.
Parent Engagement 