Posted by alexandra_k on January 5, 2005, at 19:02:53
In reply to Re: Been thinking about attachment... » alexandra_k, posted by daisym on January 5, 2005, at 18:39:55
> Typically, if we look closely, even within a setting such as you are talking about, there will emerge a PRIMARY caregiver to an infant. And typically, that someone has a matching temperment. So if an older sibling takes on the roll of childcare, the baby or toddler has a reliable person to meet their needs.
I wasn't so sure that there was a PRIMARY caregiver. That was kind of my point. Maybe I have that wrong. I was thinking that rather than their being ONE PARTICULAR person there were more than one. Of course, I didn't mean complete interchangability I was thinking more that there may be a few people who would do.
>It is much more about consistency than an individual person.
Yeah. Thats what I was thinking.
>In a family unit, the family could be the entity that the children attach to.
Yeah, in this case we have the Marae which is a kind of 'living house' for the community.
> We know in childcare settings that the idea of a primary caregiver works well for children, even if several teachers are available to them during a day.So even though we still talk of 'the primary caregiver' we can reallly read 'whosoever (and maybe more than one person) meets their needs'. And thus if something happens to one of those people then it is not the end of the world insofar as their needs continue to be met by the remainder.
>We are back to the idea that interdependency is more ideal than independence.
I would probably say that independence is an ideal on the one hand and complete autonomy is an ideal on the other. The reality of what works, however would seem to be interdependence. I still like the ideal of complete autonomy actually, but need to realise that that would be pathological :-)
> Also, I suspect that the initial imprinting that occurs during breastfeeding is being underestimated by whomever is counting the kids. Even in culturals with wet nurses, babies bond with their moms and know the difference in milk.Yeah, ok. I was getting more at attachment in the sense of crying and seeking and so forth sense. Sure, maori kids were breast fed so some bonding would have gone on. Not so much once weaned, however, that was when the responsibility would fall to others in the community.
poster:alexandra_k
thread:438205
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/psycho/20050105/msgs/438230.html