Parental Involvement and Engagement with Children is Critical for Successful Parent/Child Relationships

As humans we have an innate need for connection. This need is apparent in young babies and through out the rest of our lives. 

Researchers have studied the effects of human interactions for many years and found that when babies are not interacted with their struggle is almost immediate. In the below video it will demonstrate how a mother and baby interact. The mother starts by chatting with the baby, the baby responds with smiles, giggles and excited movements. Later the mother changes her way of interaction, and has a "Still Face", this change in facial expression and energy coming from the mom, immediately influences the baby, but not positively. The baby is confused, her facial expression changes, and starts to screech in hopes for a reaction. This Still Face experiment is a simple, yet insightful example of the effects of feedback.

As parents and educators, it is critical that we interact and engage with children in a warm and loving manner. Children feed off energy and mimic our behaviors. We are children example, so we need to model attentive care. 

Questions to Ponder after viewing this video:

• What are your thoughts about the significance of the level of responsiveness from the parent to the child?
• How does modeling a synchronous relationship contribute to a positive sense of self and competency in communication with the child?
• How can a parent be "still face" with their adolescent?

I believe that the significance of the level of responsiveness from parent to the child is so important!  If a parent is responsive it will help the child to learn many valuable skills like communication, humor, emotions, eye contact, trust, safety and so much more. If parents are not responsive, it creates insecure and detached children who struggle with their emotions. 

If parents model synchronous relationships it will contribute to a positive sense of self and competency in communication with their child because children need to connect to learn about relationships. If there is an insecure detached relationship is likely to suffer and the child will not learn how to view themselves positively, because the feedback they have received is contrary. 

A parent can absolutely be "still face" with their adolescent. Anyone can show emotionless behaviors towards anyone. Unfortunately this is becoming increasingly popular because parents are distracted, and become numb when they look at screens. This is bad in so many ways, and that is for another blog post. To keep it simple, parents model addictive behaviors towards technology, which children pick up on, and view as normal, which creates a cycle of dependency to technology therefore leading to decreased contentedness between individuals.

When people lack connection, their souls and minds become damaged. This cycle of lack of connection is what leads to behavioral issues and peoples ability to interact with others in a healthy manner. 

So what can we do about this need for connection?

We need to recognize the issue of our disconnected society, make a change, and keep it going. We need to make more meaningful connections, put our phone down and talk to people in line at the grocery store. We need to place value in relationships and nurture them. We need to learn to communicate effectively. When we do these things, we will live much more fulfilled lives.

Quotes about parent and child connection: