Assignment: Attachment and Child-Rearing Style

A key element of social-emotional development during infancy and toddlerhood is the establishment of bonds of attachment. A child's temperament can influence the nature of attachment with caregivers.

For instance, an infant's difficult temperament might make it more likely that he or she will develop an insecure attachment to the caregiver. If caregivers receive sufficient social support, thereby establishing a "goodness of fit" between temperament and environment (i.e., parenting), they can overcome some of the challenges of raising a difficult child.

The child's temperament and the caregiver's parenting style work in tandem to affect the child's social-emotional and cognitive development.

Caregivers who exhibit open displays of warmth and affection and who respond to their children's needs in a timely manner (thereby acknowledging that each child has some influence on other family members) are likely to socialize their children so that they feel positively about themselves, learn to trust, and are secure with their caregivers. As you examine other parenting styles, think about how the level of caregiver responsiveness affects infant attachment.

For this Assignment, you will explore different parenting styles and forms of attachment, and you will examine how culture might impact the type of attachment.

To prepare for this Assignment:

• Review this week's Learning Resources and select two child-rearing styles. Based on these child-rearing styles, consider two different types of attachment.

For this Assignment:

Write a 2- to 3-page paper and include the following:

• Briefly describe the two child-rearing styles you selected.

• Describe the two types of attachment you might expect, based on each child-rearing style you selected and explain why.

• Finally, explain how culture may impact the type of attachment.

• Be specific, provide examples, and justify your response with citations from the Learning Resources/literature.

Support your Assignment with specific references to all resources used in its preparation. You are asked to provide a reference list for all resources, including those in the Learning Resources for this course.

Discussion: Developmental Milestones

Milestones refer to important points in the development of a particular skill or ability. For example, some (but not all) of the milestones related to gross motor development include rolling over, sitting up, crawling, standing up, cruising, and walking.

The ability to communicate is an important skill. In fact, it is one of the first skills infants and children must master. Infants communicate primarily through crying. Parents and caregivers can become quite adept at interpreting a child's cry so that they can respond to his or her needs quickly and appropriately.

While nature predisposes humans to language, it is nurture that determines language development. Language development can be facilitated in a number of ways: Adults can modify their speech (i.e., child-directed speech, simplified speech) to help young children attend to and learn the important parts of speech and appropriate syntax; play simple games with children that encourage turn-taking (a characteristic of good communication); and use of scaffolding (e.g., repetition) to help children learn the basics of language and communication (Pinker, 2004).

The milestones of language development range from pre-language babbling to multi-word phrases and sentences. Individual and cultural differences can affect the rate and form of language within these milestones.

For this Discussion, you will explore one developmental milestone in infancy and/or toddlerhood as it relates to cognitive, physical, and/or social-emotional development.

To prepare for this Discussion:

• Review the Learning Resources for this week and consider the various developmental milestones in infancy and/or toddlerhood.

• Select only one developmental milestone in infancy and/or toddlerhood as it relates to cognitive, physical, and/or social-emotional development.

Post a brief description of the developmental milestone you selected. Then, explain the impact of missing and meeting the milestone as it relates to cognitive, physical, and social-emotional development in infancy and/or toddlerhood. Use your Learning Resources to support your post. Use proper APA format and citations.