Curious and Connected

We introduce this chapter by addressing the elephant in the room: we believe it is often difficult to discuss the mental health of babies and young children, because in our society the implication is that to do so we are saying that something is wrong. This is not the case, and we believe that mental health at this early stage in life is crucially important and should not be overlooked. We try to provide the early childhood practitioner with the tools to work with colleagues and to help parents, to address children’s mental health in a positive way, and to view it alongside physical health and wellbeing. Being mentally healthy in the early years means that children learn to express their emotions; they experience meaningful relationships and have a secure foundation from which to play, explore, learn and develop resilience and positive mental health in later life. Continuing the theme of brain development, we introduce the limbic system, learn more about ‘mirror neurons’ and ‘what a growing brain needs’, relating the information to everyday practice with young children. We refer again to brain pruning and remind ourselves how the stress regulatory system triggers the ‘fight, flight or freeze’ responses in the brain, and the impact of separation anxiety and how to minimise the trauma of separation. Resources such as treasure baskets and early ‘hide and seek’ games promote the circle of security and we provide reflective questions and suggest ways that these materials can be shared and used by parents and others involved in the children’s lives.