A child's very earliest experiences in school help to shape that child’s perception of his school environment and his place within it. Certain techniques will help parents to prepare their child for scholastic and social success in his formative school years. They are Responsive Parenting Techniques and, particularly during infancy, they are beneficial to a child’s healthy development.

Lasting Effects of Nurturing

Scholastic success cannot be guaranteed by pushing a child towards early and rapid achievement. Rather, scholastic success results from parental nurturing and support throughout the child's naturally occurring developmental stages. Success for the child depends upon his parents' early sensitivities to what the child is ready and eager to know, as well as an ability to subtly influence what the child desires to know.

Parents hold immense power. They create their children's reality. An infant's concept of social reality forms from his very first interaction with another person. From this perception of reality, a child's understanding of the world develops.

Thus, how we parent during infancy is of great significance. The child's formative relationships during infancy will eventually color his understanding of the world. During this time, the child also establishes social-emotional bonds, and an understanding of objects and their permanency. The foundation of these achievements lies in the child’s sense of trust.

Respond to Your Baby

Renown psychoanalytic theorist, Erik Erikson, has written that the infant's primary caregiver, the mother, actually personifies the issues which will come to form a child's sense of trust. Psychologist John Bowlby agrees that much of a child's early learning is inspired by the strength of the mother-child bond.

Researchers generally agree that intellectual development is closely linked to parental responsiveness, that is, verbal stimulation of and physical contact with the infant. The infant's reality until his moment of birth is one of constant physical contact and frequent verbal stimulation. Experts have suggested that the birth process, the physical separation from the mother, is traumatic for the infant. You can reinforce your bond with your infant through breastfeeding, which aside from being nutritious is also source of great emotional and physical comfort to the newly independent infant. Co-sleeping also fosters the physical and emotional security that is necessary to an infant's sense of well-being.

Maintaining The Child's Trust

Infants cry for a variety of reasons. Responding to an infant's emotional and social needs is just as important as satisfying his physical needs, such as coming to the child when he cries. It helps the child create a sense of security when he trusts that the most important object in his life, the caregiver, does continue to exist when not present, and will reappear when called.

The myth of the "spoiled baby" should be dispelled. Once an infant becomes secure in the knowledge that his cries will be responded to in a timely manner, there will be less of the "just checking" sort of crying. As a baby gains motor control and is able to entertain himself with toys, his feet and so on, he is not going to want to be held all the time.

This is the natural order of things, and there is no need or even real benefit to rushing the process. In allowing the infant to determine the time and degree of the inevitable processes of separation and independence, we maintain his sense of trust and security, while increasing his confidence in his own abilities.

Walk the Talk

We influence what our children desire to know by what we demonstrate to be important. If we want our children to believe that reading and education are important, we should provide not only materials that encourage them, but we should also practice these kinds of activities ourselves. That we read and learn for pleasure is a much more powerful message than simply telling children that they should do so.

It is not useful to pressure young children directly about learning as it robs an activity of its pleasure, which is the greatest motivational factor for lasting scholastic success. Children, through their developing interests, will always let a parent know what they are ready to learn.

Secure in the World

As parents, we have a wonderful opportunity to influence our child's most basic understanding of the world, as well as what he hopes to achieve in it. Through responsive parenting techniques, parents cultivate and reinforce the emotional and social qualities that ensure a positive and rewarding school experience for the young child.