Virtual Training Institute Resource Centre
Parent(s) on the Green Blanket with the Baby

The parent(s) as well as the baby should be on the blanket during the visit. It is easier to highlight attachment and attunement of the parent and baby when they are in close proximity to each other.

The baby will often look at the parent, lean back on mom’s leg, touch dad’s body for security or bury his or her face into the parent’s lap. This physical contact shows the need for the baby to feel secure before being able to engage with the toys or students during the visit.

These subtle moments of interaction between the parent and baby, like the number of times the baby will make eye-contact with the parent, are lost with too much distance between them.

The importance and impact that this relationship has on the developing brain are part of the neuroscience lessons within the curriculum.

Attachment Theory

In the Roots of Empathy program, we celebrate relationships as being the core of learning and of life. The first most influential relationship is that between parent and infant. The nature of that bond forms the basis of all future relationships. Erik Erikson’s psychosocial stages describe infancy as the place where trust is either built, or it is not. In Roots of Empathy, we look at attachment forming very closely and describe what secure attachment looks like. We identify baby’s anxiety when the parent is not in sight as appropriate, securely attached behaviour.

Attachment takes place over time, along with the baby’s cognitive development. Babies aren’t born emotionally connected to their parents - they learn it.

A healthy, secure attachment is predictive of good friendships and intimate relationships later on in life. An insecure attachment is predictive of a wide range of emotional and behavioural problems.

Teaching attachment theory works in tandem with teaching temperament. In the Roots of Empathy program, we talk about how important it is for a baby to feel secure and safe in a loving relationship. Students observe the loving and nurturing relationship that exists between the baby and parent(s).

“Love Grows Brains”,
Mary Gordon, Roots of Empathy Founder/President