Many educators have realised the need to create nurturing and stress-free environments for children and for adults. Recent brain research tells us that experiences children have or don’t have will affect the way their brain develops, and helps to justify and support these realisations. 

As Shore explains: ‘Early care and nurture have a decisive, long lasting impact on the way people develop, their ability to learn and their capacity to regulate their own emotions’ (Shore, 1997, p.27).

What is a nurturing environment?

A nurturing environment for children is one that nurtures:

• trust

• individuality

• imitation

• learning potential

• adults.

Nurturing trust

Children learn best in the context of important relationships. One of the most important factors influencing healthy brain development is the relationship with key adults in the environment (Shore, 1997). A strong and secure attachment to a nurturing adult is seen to have a protective function against adverse effects of stress and trauma in later life. Perry et.al. (1995) suggests that sustained stress, trauma, or emotional neglect early in life can affect brain functions such as empathy, the ability to regulate emotions, and attachment. When an infant or young child sits on your knee for a story, the nerves in her brain begin to ‘fire’, forging pathways and making connections to areas of the brain associated with language, thinking, emotions, and feelings of self-worth and trust. This amazing process takes place with every loving experience the infant and young child has, shaping the child’s future development.

You are the mirror that reflects the personal worth of each child. What you say and what you do will be stored in the accumulation of experiences in the brain, and support the development of identity and a strong inner life in the future.

Nurturing individuality

The complex relationship between genes, environmental influence, and individual temperament identified in the research on the brain is different with every individual. All children develop in relation to their family’s child-rearing practices, culture, class, gender, birth order, and their individual temperament.

Considering individual differences is a key response to our knowledge of how brain development occurs. Infants and young children respond in different ways to the same situation; therefore it is crucial for educators to tune into individual likes, dislikes, strengths, and inclinations by observing behaviour closely and responding in understanding ways.

A nurturing, stress-free environment would:

• be sensitive to individual differences at eating and resting times, arrival and departure times, and at all times during the rest of the day;

• provide culturally inclusive curriculums, including books, songs, equipment, and access to a first language where necessary; and

• provide experiences that are inclusive of differing abilities and celebrate diversity of all kinds.

Nurturing imitation

The great tool children have to help them learn from their environment is the ability to imitate. Staff should never underestimate the power of imitation in the infant and young child. Remember that everything you say and do and the way you say and do will it be closely observed by the child. These experiences are absorbed by the child, often imitated, and will have a long-lasting effect on the overall development in the future. Staff should try to develop a cooperative, supportive climate by modelling empathy and care for others, and respect for children’s interests and desires.

A nurturing, stress-free environment would:

• encourage an abundance of laughing, singing, and humming with infants and young children;

• allow children to hear the sound of birds, busy children, and happy human voices; and

• allow infants and young children to see adults caring for the environment and fully engaged and happy in their own work, e.g. gardening, cleaning windows.

Nurturing learning potential

An important tool children use in the learning process is the drive to be actively involved in everything! This natural and sometimes relentless need is absolutely vital to healthy brain development. Schiller (1998) tells us that healthy brain development occurs when children have their senses activated in pleasurable ways and when they actively participate in their environment. Remember that infants and toddlers are sensory motor beings. Young children over three bring the added skill of imagination that develops out of their experiences. It is through repetition of experiences, imitation, and imaginative play that the brain develops and learning in all areas of development takes place.

A nurturing and stress-free environment would:

• allow long, uninterrupted time for imaginative play;

• encourage cubby play inside and outside, and provide enough materials to achieve it;

• spend more time outside than inside each day;

• provide hands-on opportunities for sensory experiences for long periods every day;

• provide many opportunities and the accessories and loose parts necessary for imaginative play, allowing children to act out dilemmas, solve problems, and practise social skills, and pre-literacy skills;

• encourage children’s attempts at mastering and developing skills, through play and their efforts to help with work. Allow plenty of time for this to occur; and

• provide opportunities for children to be in control and make decisions for themselves sometimes.

Nurturing adults

The nurturing environment is one that seeks to create an atmosphere of respect and love for all who come there. Infants and young children need to be in the presence of relaxed, happy adults.

A nurturing and stress-free environment would:

• provide for the needs, interests, and beliefs of the adults who work there and the parents and carers who bring their children;

• value early childhood staff’s interests and ideas, acknowledge and appreciate the work they do, and create conditions for them to love what they do and the children they work with;

• support parents’ needs (many parents need nurturing and support to de-stress their lives and create homes to nurture their children; helping parents understand our wish to support them when they arrive to leave or collect their child is an integral part in the creation of a nurturing environment); and

• assist staff to feel strong and secure in themselves and their trust in children.

Are nurturing, stress-free environments just a dream?

The question of whether stress-free environments can be achieved in centre-based care where large groups of children exist and where ratios of children to adults are inadequate must continue to be raised. In some states substantial changes to regulations would be called for if we were really serious about advocating for the rights of young children, and if we wish to create environments which will optimise healthy brain development. The question is: Do we have the courage?

Heather Lawrence
Coordinator CARE Inclusion Support Team
(Far North Coast Supplementary Services, NSW)

Every Child Magazine - Autumn 2000

In a nurturing and stress-free environment staff will:

• encourage loving relationships and secure attachments with infants and young children;

• provide cosy places for children to be cuddled by parents on arrival and departure;

• observe and listen carefully to understand underlying troubles and concerns children may have;

• create a place that feels like home where children can be held whenever they need and be loved for exactly who they are; and

• find time to talk to children gently and tenderly and look into their eyes with affirmation.

References

Perry, B. D., Pollard, R., Blackley, T., Baker, W., & Vigilante, D. (1995) Childhood trauma, the neurobiology of adaption, and ‘use dependent’ development of the brain: How ‘states’ become ‘traits’. Infant Mental Health Journal, (16).

Schiller, P. (1998) The thinking brain. Child Care Information Exchange, 121, (5), pp.49–52.

Shore, R. (ed.) (1997) Rethinking the Brain: New Insights into Early Development. New York: Families and Work Institute

Article source:

Australian Early Childhood Association, Inc.

Every Child Magazine Volume 6, No 1, Autumn 2000

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