Attachment Applications

Attachment Applications

1. care of children in hospitals

   • important for mothers and babies to have the opportunity to bond
   • the more contact a baby has with it's mother in the days immediately after birth, the better the quality of their attachment
   • babies given to mothers to hold staight away
     • skin-to-skin contact
       • the beginning of bonding
   • babies put at mother's bedside
     • they can have continual contact
   • more flexible and frequent visiting hours
     • for parents and carers with children in hospital
       • prevent children from experiencing negative effects of separaton
   • possible for parent or carer to have a bed in the room with their children and sleep over
     • ensure children do not experience negative effects of separation
   • Bowlby's research in the 1950s
     • observed that children went through a number of damaging stages
       • 1- protest: children panick-striken and upset
       • 2- despair: children uninterested and apathetic
       • 3- detachment: children begin to reject caregiver

2. care of children in nurseries

   • parents increasingly using nurseries to help them with childcare
   • debate about whether it is good or bad for children
   • debate about who or how many people should contribute to a child's development
   • maybe it simply makes no difference at all

3. care of children at home

   • nowadays
     • organisations that help with child rearing
     • sometimes organisations insist on intervening
       • social services
   • in the past
     • parents left to their own devices when it came to bringing up children
     • it was difficult for parents and carers to get help and advice