Reflections on Infant/Toddler Care
Michelle Soltero
In my role as WestEd regional trainer/coordinator, I invited five infant/toddler teachers and family child care providers in San Diego County, California, to share their responses to Janet Gonzalez-Mena's article "What Can an Orphanage Teach Us? Lessons from Budapest." Each had furthered her training through the Program for Infant/Toddler Caregivers (PITC), Partners for Quality, and was excited by the opportunity to contribute reflections on infant/toddler care. As a group they represent a range of 6 to 14 years of professional experience working with children.
Partners for Quality
PITC Partners for Quality is a project developed collaboratively by the California Department of Education and WestEd and delivers training and technical assistance to infant/toddler programs and family child care providers statewide. Support comes from Quality Improvement funds.
The program uses a responsive, relationship-based approach to infant/toddler care, based on developmental research, theory, and practice. On-site training provides caregivers with the framework for a responsive caregiving curriculum; videos and active adult learning strategies are used.
Grossmont College Child Development Center (GCCDC), San Diego County, California, was one of six programs selected in 1999 as demonstration sites. GCCDC expanded its site this past year to include family child care homes as a part of its long-term plan. Family child care providers have received their first year of PITC training and support.
Elaine Benjamin
The article was interesting, and I definitely saw many similarities with our own program at Grossmont College Child Development Center.
I agree with the author about the importance of routines. With very young children especially, I think that consistent routines make them feel safe and secure. Such routines as feeding, diapering, and napping provide an excellent opportunity for one-to-one bonding between child and caregiver. I believe that in some ways an institution providing 24-hour care would offer more consistent care than a program like ours where a child is in a group setting during the day and with family at night. Even though we try to follow parents' routines and instructions as closely as possible, there can be quite a contrast between parent and caregiver personalities and attitudes.
The article describes the association between children's having been nurtured physically and emotionally through daily one-on-one routines and their ability to focus on one another during free play without a lot of adult interaction. The children in the Pikler orphanage felt comfortable in their environment, their needs were met, they felt safe, and therefore they could concentrate on socializing with other children.
I strongly agree that each child develops in his or her own way, and as caregivers we need to respect and support the individuality of each child we work with.
Maura Mehrian
This article should challenge all caregivers of infants and toddlers to reflect on their practices and priorities and on what is truly important and necessary for babies to grow into successful, freethinking adults. To offer care that is built on relationships, we must first look at what we define as a real caregiver-child relationship. We need to journey outside the comfort of our own boxes and find other models to learn from.
We are so governed by time that often we lose focus on what is really important. We cheat children and ourselves as caregivers out of the joy that comes from experiencing ordinary moments, which we call routines, as times when deep connections between human beings can happen.
As I read this article, it evoked within me deep concern that the overall quality of infant/toddler care in the United States is so poor. Advocates, educators, caregivers, and lawmakers should be alarmed. Both Hungary and Italy appear to have found, and successfully put into practice, methods that create mentally and physically healthy, whole children who can function as competent and capable individuals in society. Can't we? We have the education and resources to be able to equal the standard of quality that these communities demonstrate is their commitment to children.
I have practiced primary caregiving and continuity, embraced the philosophies of both Reggio Emilia and PITC for almost four years, and seen the awesome successes that can result. Now, reading this article challenges me to learn more about the practices and philosophies of the Pikler Institute and to reflect on and evaluate my own practices.
Grace Woodford
I feel strongly about communicating everything to a young infant-my every action, all aspects of our day-just as I would to an older child or adult. I explain what is going to happen, and I watch for the baby's response.
In the article I was a little uncomfortable with what I felt was a somewhat distant approach to being with an infant. Beyond involving an infant in caregiving routines, I spend time on the floor, one-on-one, playing near or with the child. I model building with blocks, for example, and when the child moves in and tries, I move away. I put a few objects into a basket and take them out. Then I let the baby try it.
Institutionalized care differs from the care that I am familiar with (small family child care) in the ratio of children to caregivers. The fact that the Pikler caregivers can give undivided attention to one child at a time is phenomenal. This attention seems to give children the self-confidence they need to explore on their own. They receive comfort from the other children as well. They may be unaccustomed to being held and cuddled a lot, depending on a how long they have been in institutionalized care.
In a small family child care setting, with two infants and four toddlers (as an example), the situation is different. Often a child is a family's only child, king or queen of the universe at home. Such children receive a tremendous amount of tenderness and holding at home and often are less content on their own in a child care setting. I try to provide an atmosphere of warmth similar to what they are used to.
Magda Gerber taught us a lot about treating babies as individuals and all children with respect. She encouraged caregivers to move slowly and take their time when communicating with infants, to say something and then wait for a response. Caregivers at Pikler seem like graduates of Magda Gerber University.
Liz Ashanti Mack
Some of what I read in Gonzalez-Mena's article sounded familiar, like what we do here at Grossmont College in working with the PITC and the Reggio Emilia philosophies. These two philosophies have helped me personally. I have worked at Grossmont almost one year, and I am blown away by the children's progress. My belief in children's capability has changed by leaps and bounds.
At Pikler and Grossmont, we seem to want the same outcome for children, to build healthy children who will function in and out of institutional settings. We know that small groups allow us to get to know the children and with the help of the family build stronger teacher-child attachments. Following the child's lead has taught me how to slow down, listen, and pose questions to the child and myself on what is being learned. I know that free play is just another way for the child to communicate with us.
I've read the article twice now, and I have some questions. I understand the program's approach to allowing attachment for the small children and nurse providers being professional enough not to put themselves in the same positions as parents so that departure from the institution does not devastate the child or the nurse. But is it fair to the child who has to leave so soon after building a strong bond with the nurse? How can the nurse determine how close to get or when to pull away if the child has not experienced a bond with anyone at all?
Lynda Garvin
I don't know how a caregiver could bond and keep her distance when working with a child every day. You can't bond with a child half way; either you do or you don't.
In my experience with children, as caregivers we are here for the children and to meet their needs. I gear myself for that. I don't know how I'd meet the needs of a child who might need a lot more attention. I can't separate the concept and the practice, like turning on and off a faucet. I am giving all of me.
Michelle Soltero, MA, is the regional trainer/coordinator, WestEd PITC Partners for Quality, serving San Diego, Imperial, and Orange Counties, California. Since 1993 she has worked with adult learners in various settings. Michelle is a past president of the California AEYC and a present NAEYC Governing Board member.
Copyright © 2004 by the National Association for the Education of Young Children. See Permissions and Reprints online at www.naeyc.org/resources/journal.
