Affectional Bond - Caregivers

Caregivers

Caregivers play an important role in children’s lives for several reasons. It is important for the child to have an affectional bond with the person who is caring for that child. According to Bowlby, caregivers can be anyone who is caring for the child but is usually the mother or father of that child. Children place a high value on their relationship with their parents and will alter their behavior to meet the desired behavior from their parents. Bowlby explains by the time the child has reached twelve months of age the child has developed a strong relationship with his mother. Freud who is cited in Bowlby’s article “The Nature of the Child’s Tie to his Mother” says that a child’s first love is a satisfaction of the need for food and an object for food, so either the mother’s breast or bottle of milk.

Bowlby has four theories that explain how the attachment and bond are created between a child and his or her caregiver.

• Secondary drive: When the physiological needs of the child are met, for example when the child needs are met by the mother feeding or keeping her child warm.

• Primary object sucking: Infants have an innate quality that needs to be filled by sucking on the mother’s breast which he realized is connected to his mother, therefore creating a stronger bond.

• Primary object clinging: Besides food as a primary need, the feel or touch of another human is also a primary need for infants so they cling to their parents to meet this need.

• Primary return-to-womb craving: Infants crave to go back inside their mother’s womb.