Article Link: http://stage.exchangepress.com/article/supporting-infant-teachers-in-their-care-of-fussy-babies/5018268/
The transition to child care can be challenging for both parents of young babies and the teachers who welcome the baby and family into their program. Parents of infants may face a multitude of intense feelings that can include protectiveness for their young infant, grief at the impending separation, and concern for their child’s safety. They often have conflicting worries that their children may have a bad experience in child care or that their babies may grow more attached to their teachers than to their own parents. Infant teachers struggle with how to best support parents in this highly emotional transition, knowing that parents frequently have strongly conflicting emotions about the decision to use out-of-home care. Infant teachers must keep the emotional needs of the family in mind as they begin to work with the young baby in their care. This emotionally-charged transition can become even more stressful when an infant is colicky, fussy, or otherwise hard-to-settle (see sidebar).What does this mean for the infant teacher in a child care setting? Child care teachers cope with juggling multiple competing demands: managing relationships with parents, coping with individual infant temperaments, and meeting the group needs of the other infants in ...