2 Children’s relationships
The ‘Enabling Adult’ characteristics highlight how important it is that we build strong connections with the babies and children that we work with, and to do this it is vital that we understand and value all the relationships they have. The diagram below shows some of the relationships of 18-month-old Seren who lives with her mum and grandma. Seren’s dad, who no longer lives with them, looks after her on the weekend and she goes to her other grandparents after nursery on weekdays when her mum and grandma are working. She is very close to her mum’s elder sister, Bethan and her son, Tomos.
The diagram below shows that Seren already has lots of relationships, and she will be interacting in lots of different ways with all these people.
All the interactions that a child has have the potential to shape the way they respond in future situations. Understanding and valuing the connections and relationships a child has is an important part of supporting them. As discussed in previous weeks, babies and toddlers play an active role in developing relationships, and they respond to situations based on their previous experiences. Their patterns of behaviour, emotions, ways of interacting and communicating, and their expectations will change or be reinforced by all the experiences they have with other people.
Activity 31.1 Activity 2 Exploring relationships
If we think about the relationships that children have and the relationships that practitioners have, we can see there are lots of potential overlaps. The list below shows some of the people that children and practitioners have relationships with. Where would you place each one of these on the table? Drag and drop them under the heading you think best fits.
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Some of these relationships are easy to place under one heading, but for others it might depend on the individual child or the setting, for example, one child’s grandparents are known because they collect them from the setting, but for another child this wouldn’t be the case. This activity shows the importance of getting to know each child’s individual circumstances and relationships, so that you can build effective connections with them and support them as they develop.
Whilst all these connections have an impact on work you do with babies and young children, the child’s most significant relationship is the one they have with their family.