Attachment refers to a special emotional relationship that exists between an infant and a caregiver (primarily the mother) to describe an intimate emotional connection between the infant and the caregiver. Mother-infant attachment is an attachment relationship that occurs between the infant and the mother. Attachment is an emotional connection and bond that manifests itself in a child’s following, attachment, and intimate behavior toward the caregiver and the resulting sense of belonging and security. Types of mother-infant attachment Regarding the classification of attachment types, Ainsworth established the famous “unfamiliar scenario” laboratory procedure, which is applicable to children from 10 to 24 months of age. Ainsworth believes that there are individual differences in attachment relationships and that there are not only insecure attachments but also secure types of attachments. The attachment types of young children are classified into three typical categories based on their performance in unfamiliar situations when separated and reunited with their mothers and when strangers are present: avoidant (A), secure (B), and ambivalent (C). A. Avoidant Type Infants of this type pay little attention to their mothers; the presence or absence of their mothers does not affect them very much; most of the time they play by themselves and rarely notice their mothers’ absence. When the mother returns, the infant actively avoids interacting with her, breaks away or physically moves away when held, shifts his gaze, and calmly returns to his own play. This type of infant receives comfort from a stranger as if it were from the mother. In fact, these infants do not form attachments to people, so some people call these children “unattached children. B. Secure type These infants like to be close to their mothers when they are with them, and are able to play games comfortably. They generally show varying degrees of distress when the mother leaves, seek comfort when she returns, and quickly regain their composure and continue to play. They reflect varying degrees of alertness and fear of strangers, but are sometimes able to attempt to approach and show friendliness. C. Ambivalent These infants are very wary of their mothers leaving and are extremely distressed when their mothers leave, but then show ambivalence when their mothers return. That is, they seek contact and resist contact, do not calm down easily, and show restlessness and pain throughout. These infants cry the most and play the least in unfamiliar environments; they are difficult to approach strangers and show negative social adaptation. Of the three types, types A and C are insecure attachment types. Different types of attachment relationships reflect different types of internal working models that drive not only the development of children’s social personality, emotions and behaviors, but also cognitive development. Influence of early maternal-infant attachment Infant attachment to the mother constitutes the most important social bond in early infancy and plays a pivotal role in infant emotional, social behavioral, and cognitive development. Children with secure attachment have a good attachment to their parents and use them as a “safe base” to actively and happily explore the unknown world and improve their intelligence and ability level. In addition, it helps children develop their language skills. A good attachment relationship between parents and children is conducive to children using their parents as a “language base” to learn language at ease. Parents can provide a good language education environment and conditions at this stage, which not only promotes the development of language in infants and toddlers, but also improves the quality of children’s oral expression. The establishment of a good attachment relationship means that parents spend more time interacting with their infants, talking to them, and playing with them, which helps stimulate infants to mobilize all their senses to perceive their parents’ language and actively mimic it. With the attention and intentional teaching of sensitive and enthusiastic parents, the child’s language skills will develop more rapidly. 2. Influence the development of personality Children initially form personality traits around the age of six. Once formed, personality has relative stability and remains with them throughout their lives. If a good attachment relationship is established at an early stage, it has a fundamental role in the formation of children’s good character. First of all, a secure attachment can make children feel psychologically safe. If the child experiences love and trust in early relationships, he can feel comfortable leaving his mother and exploring because he believes his family will be with him in his time of need and provide him with the necessary protection. In this way, infants develop a sense of trust in their parents and, by extension, in others and their surroundings, and children are able to interact well with others. Second, the establishment of secure attachments promotes the formation of a child’s sense of self-identity, which in turn helps build self-confidence. Researchers have found that children who have a strong attachment to their parents or kindergarten aunts also have a better sense of self-identity. A child who lacks attachment rarely communicates emotionally with adults, and it is difficult for him to get adults’ understanding and support for some of his ideas and actions, and eventually even he himself becomes suspicious of them. Children who lack a sense of self-identity find it difficult to build self-confidence, and some even develop anxiety and fear, fear interacting with others, and retreat in behavior, eventually forming character traits of low self-esteem. 3. Influence on interpersonal patterns The first objects that infants interact with are their parents, so a good early attachment plays an important role in children’s interpersonal relationships. First of all, secure attachment is good for children to master interpersonal skills and experience. Children with a secure attachment have a sense of trust and confidence in their parents, and their parents naturally become role models for them when interacting with others, and children can learn many rules of behavior and interaction skills from their interactions with their parents. At the same time, secure attachment can also infuse infants with a sense of self-affirmation, which helps infants interact with others and master interaction experiences and skills. Second, the sound personality traits of children with secure attachment lay the foundation for good interpersonal relationships. Studies have shown that children’s cooperative, friendly, and pro-social behaviors are positively correlated with peer acceptability, while aggressive and destructive behaviors lead to peer rejection, i.e., insecure attachment is more consistently correlated with aggression. The poor personality traits and behaviors of insecurely attached children predict possible difficulties in interpersonal interactions, whereas securely attached children are more likely to be liked by others and have good interpersonal relationships because of their sound personality traits such as pro-social behavior, cooperation, friendliness, self-confidence, and trust in others. Attachment is one of the most important social relationships in early childhood and is the beginning and component of an individual’s social development. Infants and toddlers are in a critical period of emotional development and emotional differentiation, and it is very meaningful for their whole life if they are given proper secure attachment development. Therefore, we should pay attention to mother-infant attachment, and call on the whole society to pay attention to young children and the formation of secure attachment for them. Many mothers are faced with the problem that their babies are too clingy. After coming home, babies hug themselves like tree bears hug trees, play with toys, eat, sleep when they must also want adults around, in the face of baby’s dependence, adults should be submissive or refuse? A. Separation is also a common thing, others take care of is natural A cold attitude when separated from your child is not a bad thing. By handling your occasional separation calmly and coolly, you can make your baby feel that separation is just a normal thing. Alternatively, you might consider asking someone else to take over the care of your child. Sometimes, give this task to the child’s father, the sticky you a person into sticky you two people, slowly the child will be closer to more people. Two, more talk more people more nature Let your baby get close to nature, meet more other children, and chat with other people. This can make your baby’s vision broader and broader, interests and fun more multifaceted, then the clinging behavior may naturally disappear. If you have to leave your baby temporarily to go to other parts of the house, you can talk loudly with your baby and sing songs to let your baby feel that you have not left him. For example, when you want to take a bath or toilet, you can put your baby at the door, he will first see if you are there, and then go to play their own games. This goes back and forth to see if you disappear until after he confirms the fact that mom is always there, you can close the door, but remember to communicate with the keep baby! Fourth, wholehearted anxiety calming Children between the ages of one and two years will be gradually rich inner feelings impact, this time he needs parents to give him a wholehearted sense of security. This will let the child know: how reliable you are, how willing to be with him, then his anxiety will eventually calm down. The first thing that you need to do is to make sure that you have a good idea of what you are doing. In the long run, it will affect the baby’s independence. Some of these children may not be confident or even retreat in the face of new things, new environments or strangers, and some children may be spoiled and domineering, affecting interpersonal communication. Parents should usually spoil but not spoil, let the baby take on their own can do things. Otherwise, he will slowly lose his sense of responsibility and dependence will become more and more serious. If the child already has a strong sense of dependence, parents should learn to refuse in addition to properly ignore his clingy behavior, but also through the game competition to attract him to do things independently, and praise him for every bit of progress in a timely manner. Six, changing emotions will become clingy children Parents’ inconsistent attitude and changing emotions will make babies feel less secure and become clingy children. Some parents are in a good mood, can be patient child “sticky”; bad mood when the child a push away, this inconsistent attitude, easy to make the child at a loss, but will enhance the child’s “sticky”. Seven, shift the goal so that the “sticky” down When the baby has the symptoms of clinging, parents should take the baby’s attention to the way to shift the baby’s attention to parents down. Such as holding him to find his favorite animal, go for a walk, play games, etc., in short, to let the baby shift the goal.