The Importance of Nurturing and Responsive Relationships

One of the most important findings from modern brain research is how critical others are to the developing brain. All development occurs within the context of relationships. Relationships are central to all of your work. The importance of nurturing and responsive relationships is a theme you will see appear in almost every course in the Virtual Lab School.

Relationships don't just happen. They take time to develop and deepen. According to Janet Gonzalez-Mena and Dianne Widmeyer Eyer, relationships grow from interactions that are respectful, responsive and reciprocal. These types of interactions build safety, security and confidence in children and youth and support them in becoming capable learners. For a powerful example of the importance of interactions, consider the famous “Still Face Experiment.” In this experiment, caregivers were asked to interact playfully with an infant. Then they were asked to look away and remain unresponsive for a period of time. Researchers found that infants became quite distressed by the sudden unresponsiveness of the adult. These experiments have been used to investigate many aspects of parent-child attachment, social emotional development, and cognitive development. Daily interactions with caregivers matter!

Research on the importance of nurturing and responsive relationships with parents, family members and caregivers is quite clear. When young children feel safe and secure within their relationships with others, they are:

• less stressed
• express and manage their emotions in healthy ways
• exhibit higher levels of self-worth
• have more diverse friendships
• are more cooperative
• exhibit fewer behavior problems
• better able to problem solve

Interactions that Support Learning

Relationships that are nurturing and responsive, with lots of back-and-forth interactions, build a strong foundation in a child’s brain to support optimal learning and development. Scientists now emphasize the importance of these “serve and return” style of interactions and their impact on brain development. Interactions literally change the brain. To learn more, you can watch Harvard University's "5 Steps for Brain-Building Serve and Return " video to see how interactions influence the developing brain.

This lesson, and the lessons completed by direct care staff members, cover two essential aspects of interactions: physical and verbal. Physical interactions include play. Verbal interactions include encouragement and conversations.

5 Steps for Brain-Building Serve and Return

The Center of the Developing Child at Harvard University

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KNrnZag17Ek

This lesson, and the lessons completed by direct care staff members, cover two essential aspects of interactions: physical and verbal. Physical interactions include play. Verbal interactions include encouragement and conversations.

Physical Interactions

It is often said that play is children’s work. Play is the time when children explore their interests and practice their developing skills. According to Zigler, Singer and Bishop-Josef, (2004): "The promise of play-and its many other well-documented benefits-extends significantly beyond the development of literacy, arithmetic, and science skills so spotlighted in today's early childhood classrooms. Play contributes to the emotional, intellectual, physical, social, and spiritual development of the child in ways that cannot be taught through instruction. They must be experienced, and play is the natural, built-in way children accumulate that experience."

Optimal development in children and youth takes place in an environment where collaboration, discussion, analysis, and application of learning is encouraged and facilitated. It is especially important for children and youth to have time and space to explore and learn through play.

Adults can increase learning by interacting with children during play in different ways:

• Adults can join play to provide support or problem-solving assistance.
• Adults can model exploration in play. They can build a tower with blocks. They can shake a rattle. They can experiment with mixing paints. They can create rockets with children in the school-age program. Adults can imitate and expand children’s ideas. If an infant waves, the adult waves back and says “Hi.” If a toddler or preschooler begins to dance, the adult adds a movement and sings a song. If a school-age child tosses a basketball, the adult tosses it back and suggests a game.
• Adults can help children to expand their imaginary play by joining in the play and expanding play ideas without taking over the play or quizzing children. When adults take over play or spend too much time asking questions, children lose interest and will disengage.

Verbal Interactions

Children and youth want and need adults to interact with them. They desire human response and interaction. The amount and types of interaction they desire during play and learning will differ among children. Adults should always be available. Here are some strategies direct care staff members learned in their courses and that you can help adults use to promote learning with children of all ages:

• Adults can use play to model language and new vocabulary words connected to the curriculum. For example, an adult might comment on the “stethoscope” in the dramatic play doctor’s office.
• Adults should use rich vocabulary and descriptive language. For example, with a young toddler a staff member might say: "You stacked two green blocks on top of the red block." Using the word "stacked" instead of "put" or "placed" introduces new language; using color names reinforces color identification; using "on top" is a directional word; and the number "two" supports math concepts; all of these expand learning in an appropriate way. With school-age youth, a staff member might take children on a nature walk around the "perimeter of the facility" or notice the "aromas" coming from the cooking activity.
• Adults should converse and ask questions during play, learning, and everyday routines. Consider these examples from across the age span, and notice that similar scenarios across age groups require different kinds of responses from adults:

As you observe in child development and school-age programs, make note of the kinds of questions and statements you hear. Notice whether adults are telling children what to do or asking what will happen or what they are thinking. Adults may know what will happen when a child pours sand through a sieve, but letting the child figure it out allows learning to happen and encourages further discovery. Instead, encourage adults to use open-ended questions about what happened to the sand after it was poured into the sieve. Help staff understand the difference between occasional open-ended questions that promote thinking and exploration and questions that feel like a quiz.

The Role of Culture in Interactions

Each child comes to your program with unique experiences, expectations, and abilities. Culture has a huge impact on how we interact with others. This means staff members must be ready to interact appropriately with children who have different backgrounds from their own.

The first step is for staff members to recognize the influence of their own culture and their own implicit biases. Among staff members, culture may express itself in ideas about how children and youth learn, how people should interact, how children should be disciplined, how much children should direct their own experiences, how boys and girls should behave, and a myriad of other ways. These values and beliefs influence how staff interact with each other, children, and youth. Staff interactions with children and youth may be culturally sustaining for children or there may be cultural clashes. In both cases, interactions impact the experiences children and youth have and, in turn, their cognitive development. To guide staff members as they reflect on culture, you can provide professional development opportunities, observe interactions, ask questions about assumptions, and facilitate discussions.

One common way culture manifests itself in interactions is during conversations between staff members and children and youth. Staff members may find themselves responding to questions from children and youth about diversity, including racial identity, gender, disabilities, family structures, religion, and languages. Help staff understand how to respond in ways that promote understanding, awareness, and honesty. Help them reflect on their own bias and question their bias before responding to children and youth. Staff can always acknowledge a question and tell children and youth that they need to get back to them. It’s ok to take time to respond to ensure a thoughtful response. Staff should avoid answers like, “William uses a wheelchair because his legs are broken” or “Big boys don’t cry like that.” Encourage children to notice how we are all alike and different. Also watch for biased language. Staff members might call children “baby girl,” “big boy,” or “cutie” rather than their given names; talk with them about the importance of using names. Additionally consider:

• Do staff members comment equally on girls' and boys' appearances and accomplishments? What about between white children and children of color?
• Do they make comments about play that apply differently to boys and girls? For example, do they say things like, "Oh, don't get your dress dirty!" to girls on the playground? Do they comment more on girls in dramatic play and boys in blocks?
• Do they praise African American boys for their athleticism more than their academic achievements?
• Do they comment on children's size (e.g., "He's going to be a football player")?
• Do they encourage girls and boys to play sports or lift weights? Do they encourage girls to "be careful" while saying "boys will be boys"?
• Do staff members encourage peaceful solutions for all children (e.g., avoid giving directions like not hitting kids with glasses)?
• Do staff members have conversations with all children-including those who may have speech and language difficulties or who are learning English?

Management Practices That Support Effective Interactions

Take the time to model the following behaviors that support cognitive development:

• Get to know the children in your programs by name. Greet them and their families. Notice their efforts and accomplishments.
• Join activities, play with children, or read to babies whenever you have a chance. Structure your schedule so you have opportunities for quality time with children and staff.
• Show staff that you enjoy your job and enjoy spending time with them! Have rich and interesting conversations with staff members throughout the week.
• Model an inclusive attitude. If you see any examples of bias in your programs, say something. Model unbiased language and interactions. Make it clear that men and women can be equally strong and nurturing, that we all benefit from a range of experiences, and that our labels do not define our interests or abilities.
• Value different teaching styles and recognize staff members who take instructional risks.
• Provide opportunities for staff members to share their experiences with their peers.
• Use case studies and scenarios to analyze challenges and explore effective responses. Use some of the examples provided in this lesson as models.
• Encourage peer-to-peer coaching and mentoring, where staff members play roles of both observer and teacher working together to strengthen their interactions.
• Stay current on evidence-based practices for children and youth.
• Work with the Training & Curriculum Specialist to provide feedback to teachers after they have been observed to support their effective interactions.
• Recruit diverse role models. Include leaders, volunteers, and practitioners from a variety of backgrounds. Children, youth, and their families should "see themselves" throughout the child development or school-age program. For example, staff and volunteers who come from similar backgrounds allow children to have role models. Hiring bilingual staff or recruiting bilingual volunteers is especially important if your program enrolls multi-language learners. Also, hire and recruit staff or volunteers with disabilities. Bring in speakers and visitors from the community from different cultural, ethnic, racial, linguistic, and religious backgrounds to raise cultural competence for the staff and children.

Watch this video that summarizes the important points of this lesson and describes ways managers can support cognitive development through interactions.