Multiple Attachments

06/04/2008

I salute the light within your eyes where the whole Universe dwells. For when you are at that center within you and I am at that place within me, we shall be one.
Crazy Horse (1840-1877) Oglala Lakota Sioux

"A secure attachment to a caregiver is where a young child recognizes a caregiver as a 'secure base' from whom exploration is possible, and who can be returned to if exploration leads to stress that the child cannot handle alone. This is not simply an emotional bonding, which emphasizes closeness, but is broader in scope and recognizes the need for children to develop their autonomy."

This observation about attachment was made by John Oates from the Open University in the United Kingdom in the Bernard van Leer Foundation's journal, Early Childhood Matters (November 2007). Oates continues to explore the issue by addressing the issue of multiple caregivers. He argues...

"Unfortunately attachment theory, as proposed by John Bowlby and developed subsequently by others, is often misrepresented as stressing the importance of the biological mother alone for healthy attachment development. Indeed Bowlby's concept of 'maternal deprivation' has often been (mistakenly) seen as asserting that the bond with the mother is the crucial and only relationship affecting attachment. Instead, Bowlby stressed (and his views have been borne out by later research) that children can and do form multiple attachments to those who give a degree of support and care over more than short periods of time. Attachments take time to establish, hence frequent changes of caregiver are not conducive to secure attachments being made, but becoming an attachment figure is possible for fathers, grandparents, siblings, aunts, uncles, and also adoptive parents or fostering carers."

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