Birth to three matters - Communities and Local Government

into defiance than those who adoptedmore moderate approaches to both infantcrying and toddler compliance. Boukydisand Lester (1998) also explored parentalresponses to their babies’ crying when40 weeks old (both full- and pre-termbabies were included). They found thatp ra ctitioners need to kn ow how to inte rp re tdifferent risk status in certain babies andh ow to help families re s pond appro p ri ate ly.As Hutchins and Sims (1999) point out,children develop self awareness andsocial awareness in conjunction with asense of their own agency. When theyhave parents and practitioners who allowthem to assert some power and controlover their own lives they learn to beself-regulating and autonomous.HAVING A SENSE OF BELONGINGThe Fra m ewo rk ‘Bi rth to Th ree Ma t te r s :A Sense of Be l o n g i n g’ c i tes the New Ze a l a n dMi n i s t ry of Ed u cation (1996:54), whoa rgue that‘The feeling of belonging…contributesto inner well-being, security and identity.Children need to know that they areaccepted for who they are. They shouldknow that what they do can make adifference and that they can explore andtry out new activities.’Here the literature review examines someof the research on very young children’srelationships in their families and in ECECsettings, in order to attempt to tease outthe key ingredients which assist thedevelopment of a sense of belonging.Belonging in one’s familyClearly families at the start of the newmillennium are very different from thefamilies of 20 to 30 years ago, but asJagger and Wright (1999:3) point out,‘thefamily is neither a pan-human universalnor a stable or essential entity… Familiesand family relations are, like the term itself,flexible, fluid and contingent.’Throughoutthis review one of the main messages fromthe research appears to be that babies andvery young children have a fundamentalneed to be with familiar, loving adults andolder children. Therefore, at a time whenfamilies are fragmented and isolated formany different reasons, we need toexplore ways of ensuring that all babiesand young children feel part of a family,however that is constituted.Some research on young children focuseson particular types of families and may,in so doing, limit its relevance. However,findings may still ‘make sense’ if parentsand practitioners find they can identifywith what appear to be authentic anduseful contributions to knowledge.For example, Boyd Webb’s (1984) researchstudied 24 children aged under four, eachof whom whom lived with their motherand father. These children had experiencedmultiple carer relationships and BoydWebb wanted to tease out what aspectsof the relationships helped the childrento be socially competent, confident andself-assured.Three common strands in thechildren’s home experiences stood out.They were the parents’ use of ‘bugging andnudging’ (for example, asking a child to56 EDUCATIONAND SKILLS B I RT H T O T H R E E M AT T E R S