Sharne Rolfe brings an excellent discussion of attachment principles, research and applications to an exceedingly important topic, the relationships between child care teachers/providers and young children. It is a important resource for the current and next generation of early childhood professionals and researchers, and it will be a key resource for the growing international discussion about child care teacher/provider and child relationships.' Helen H. Raikes, PhD, The Gallup Organization, and Society for Research in Child Development Consultant, Administration for Children and Families, USA a timely synthesis of current knowledge concerning attachment and its implications for contemporary practice.highly relevant for use in college and university early childhood programs and a valuable resource for directors and staff in children's services' Alan Hayes, Professor of Early Childhood Studies, Macquarie University particularly valuable in highlighting the crucial importance of taking a relationship-based approach when working with young children.' Pam Linke, Manager, Centre for Parenting, Child and Youth Health, South Australia This accessible and lively exploration of the importance of attachment for infants, young children and their parents, should be essential reading for all professional caregivers and for policy makers concerned with the mental health and well being of our future generation.' Ruth Schmidt Neven, Director, Centre for Child and Family Development In heated debates about whether childcare damages young children, attachment theory has been seen as anti-childcare'. Rolfe rethinks this perception, demonstrating instead that understanding attachment is essential to good childcare practice. Rethinking Attachment offers a thorough explanation of attachment theory and explains how security, autonomy and resilience in young children can be promoted in childcare settings through a sound understanding of attachment principles. With examples drawn from practice, Rolfe examines the relationships between children and their carers, between parents and carers, and between carers themselves. She also shows how secure attachment relationships with parents and carers influence transitions to childcare, preschool and school.

Bringing together a collection of chapters from international experts in the field of early childhood education, Rethinking Play and Pedagogy in Early Childhood Education seeks to explore how play in the Early Years is valued as a means of learning. The book discusses how play is presented, transformed by institutional and pedagogical discourses and ultimately experienced by children. Adopting cultural, conceptual and contextual approaches to play and pedagogy across its chapters, this book addresses contemporary emerging issues surrounding play and pedagogy including: the application of critical and socio-cultural analyses to play in early childhood renewed interest in the aesthetic, creative and affective dimensions of play in early childhood education competing discourses of ‘performativity’, market forces, social reconstruction and child-centredness children’s voice and participation within educational settings globalization, migration and cultural pluralism the role of digital technology in early childhood education diversity, identity and social justice within early childhood settings. With international appeal and relevance, this book will be of interest to students taking undergraduate, Masters and doctoral courses in early childhood education, childhood and education studies as well as academic teachers and researchers, policy-makers and international agencies working with young children.

Since 1987 the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) has embraced Developmentally Appropriate Practice (DAP) as a pedagogical guideline for early childhood education. This book attempts to expand DAP as developmentally and culturally appropriate practice (DCAP) to pay greater attention to cultural influence that forms young individual children's growth and their own learning. Infusing voices of early childhood prospective teachers' DCAP teaching experiences into the texts, the book presents a way to prepare our future teachers who would be able to use DCAP as their pedagogical guide and be more sensitive to multiple/multiethnic perspectives in young children's learning, changes, and growth.

First published in 2000. Attachment Theory is the current dominant theory of parent-child relationships and their influence on development. The theory has generated an ever-expanding body of empirical work, and is one of the few contemporary comprehensive psychological theories. However, it is also controversial, with researchers generally falling into one or other of two camps. Consequently, most of the books published to date focus on specific aspects of Attachment work, and do not provide students with a view of the theory overall and how it relates to other areas within child development. Susan Goldberg, who has researched parent-child relationships and Attachment methods and theory since the 1960s, is ideally placed in writing this book that provides a coherent overview of the field and its place within child developmental psychology as a whole. She is widely known in the field, and along with many research articles, she has edited a volume on the 'state of the art' in Attachment Theory, published in 1995. In our time, the view that parent-child relationship plays a central role in a child's psychological development has been widely accepted. This was not always the case. Attachment Theory and the research it generated played an important role in producing the empirical evidence needed to support this view, and over the last 30 years, there has been an explosion of work in this area. 'Attachment and Development' is one of the few comprehensive and critical overviews of the theory and research in Attachment across the lifespan. It provides a detailed examination of the factors that contribute to shaping early Attachment, and the effects of Attachment on development including social competence, mental health and physical health. Special emphasis is given to newly emerging research on the role of cognition and emotion in internal working models of Attachment, as well as to the role of psychobiology. In order to achieve a balanced evaluation of this area as a whole, the book concludes with a critical appraisal of the contributions and limitations of Attachment research and theory. An ideal resource for developmental psychology students, this clear and accessible text also serves as an up-to-date reference for professionals in related disciplines, such as nursing, social work, psychiatry and education.

How we raise young children is one of today's most highly personalized and sharply politicized issues, in part because each of us can claim some level of "expertise." The debate has intensified as discoveries about our development-in the womb and in the first months and years-have reached the popular media. How can we use our burgeoning knowledge to assure the well-being of all young children, for their own sake as well as for the sake of our nation? Drawing from new findings, this book presents important conclusions about nature-versus-nurture, the impact of being born into a working family, the effect of politics on programs for children, the costs and benefits of intervention, and other issues. The committee issues a series of challenges to decision makers regarding the quality of child care, issues of racial and ethnic diversity, the integration of children's cognitive and emotional development, and more. Authoritative yet accessible, From Neurons to Neighborhoods presents the evidence about "brain wiring" and how kids learn to speak, think, and regulate their behavior. It examines the effect of the climate-family, child care, community-within which the child grows.

Most parents today have accepted the message that the first three years of a baby's life determine whether or not the child will grow into a successful, thinking person. But is this powerful warning true? Do all the doors shut if baby's brain doesn't get just the right amount of stimulation during the first three years of life? Have discoveries from the new brain science really proved that parents are wholly responsible for their child's intellectual successes and failures alike? Are parents losing the "brain wars"? No, argues national expert John Bruer. In The Myth of the First Three Years he offers parents new hope by debunking our most popular beliefs about the all-or-nothing effects of early experience on a child's brain and development. Challenging the prevailing myth -- heralded by the national media, Head Start, and the White House -- that the most crucial brain development occurs between birth and age three, Bruer explains why relying on the zero to three standard threatens a child's mental and emotional well-being far more than missing a few sessions of toddler gymnastics. Too many parents, educators, and government funding agencies, he says, see these years as our main opportunity to shape a child's future. Bruer agrees that valid scientific studies do support the existence of critical periods in brain development, but he painstakingly shows that these same brain studies prove that learning and cognitive development occur throughout childhood and, indeed, one's entire life. Making hard science comprehensible for all readers, Bruer marshals the neurological and psychological evidence to show that children and adults have been hardwired for lifelong learning. Parents have been sold a bill of goods that is highly destructive because it overemphasizes infant and toddler nurturing to the detriment of long-term parental and educational responsibilities. The Myth of the First Three Years is a bold and controversial book because it urges parents and decision-makers alike to consider and debate for themselves the evidence for lifelong learning opportunities. But more than anything, this book spreads a message of hope: while there are no quick fixes, conscientious parents and committed educators can make a difference in every child's life, from infancy through childhood, and beyond.

This volume showcases the latest theoretical and empirical work from some of the top scholars in attachment. Extending classic themes and describing important new applications, the book examines several ways in which attachment processes help explain how people think, feel, and behave in different situations and at different stages in the life cycle. Topics include the effects of early experiences on adult relationships; new developments in neuroscience and genetics; attachment orientations and parenting; connections between attachment and psychopathology, as well as health outcomes; and the relationship of attachment theory and processes to clinical interventions.