Helping Caregivers to Support the Social Emotional Development of Infants & Toddlers

Infants and toddlers are dependent on the adults around them. They learn behaviors and they develop social emotional skills through positive relationships with the adults who care for them, and eventually, with other children and peers. For young children, quality attachment to caregivers, positive relationships, and having basic needs met such as food, water, and housing all play a part in their physical and mental development.

Some key practices that support the social emotional development of infants and toddlers include responsive communication and responsive interactions with adults, supporting positive relationships with others, encouraging active engagement in daily routines, activities, and transitions, and teaching emotions. Using developmentally appropriate expectations while being able to be responsive to challenging behavior to reduce stress and help children regulate are also two practices that support the development of strong social emotional skills.

The development of positive social emotional skills in young children is directly related to school readiness and participation in activities later in life. Positive social emotional skills play a large role in the development of strong mental health skills.

The National Center for Pyramid Model Innovations is a website that provides free resources for educators and families to support developmentally appropriate social emotional skills for infants, toddlers, and young children.

The resource entitled Caregiver Practices to Support Infant-Toddler Social Emotional Development provides a deeper description of the key practices described in this post. This resource is helpful for family members of young children, educators, and therapy practitioners.

May is Mental Health Awareness Month