The impact of the world around us
Positive protective factors
Positive protective factors are the nurturing relationships, environments and experiences that support healthy brain development and can help to protect against negative experiences. While primary caregivers are key to this, the network of people around a child and their parents can also play a significant role.
A strong relationship with a parent or a carer
So much of what a child learns comes from engaging with adults. Noticing, understanding and responding quickly to a child’s signals (particularly when they are under stress) helps them to develop their social, emotional and communication skills whilst building their independence. The relationship that forms in this way between a child and an adult is known as an ‘attachment’ and a significant amount of research has shown us that healthy attachment is hugely beneficial for children and their future outcomes.
Stimulating environments
A young child’s environment has a crucial role in their early development. Interactions with a caregiver help to provide a child with the stimulation which can fire their imagination and improve their learning and social skills. They can experience this at home (known as the home learning environment) in early education settings (e.g. nurseries, playgroups and pre-school) or other public spaces.
Access to nature and outdoor spaces, including parks and playgrounds, also provide opportunities to boost physical and mental health, and offer vital opportunities for social interaction with other children.
Across all of these spaces, children have a basic desire to interact which is often expressed through play. Play is a crucial part of development, since it’s one of the ways in which a child discovers new things.
Adverse experiences
Challenging, sometimes negative, experiences will occur in the course of our lives and during early childhood our brains and bodies develop to deal with them. But if these experiences are repeated frequently or become severe, they can start to impact our long-term development.
Neglect and abuse
Neglect and more extreme forms of abuse can both have a long-term impact on the development of a child’s brain. When a child is deprived of a nurturing relationship with an adult this limits the number of positive cues and prompts which their brain receives, meaning that some important connections are delayed or remain weak. These situations can also subject a child to severe amounts of stress, which can affect the functioning of the immune system, among other things.
Challenging household environments
Not all children experience direct abuse or neglect, but many grow up in households with caregivers or family members who experience different challenges in their lives including a parent with an addiction, a parent with mental health difficulties such as depression and parents in a high conflict relationship or one that breaks down. These situations can all impact on the ability of a caregiver to respond to and bond with their child, increasing stress and decreasing the number of positive interactions a child might receive.
Our future is not predetermined
A child’s life is not determined in the first 5 years. Although we’ve seen that early childhood can influence later life outcomes, our future is not pre-determined.
Those of us who have experienced adversity can be supported in the challenges we have faced and when it comes to the next generation we can all play our part in providing the right relationships, environments and experiences for babies and young children.
