We have all interacted with a young child or a baby; you may have had one or two. When spending any time with infants, their innocence is remarkable. The playfulness, naivety, sense of humour, openness to giving and receiving love and the magic and wonder of a young child’s perspective bring us joy.
Yet, childhood innocence also comes with vulnerability, helplessness, and powerlessness. This means that, as adults, we all have an extraordinary responsibility to protect the innocence of children. For parents, this responsibility includes ensuring children have the foundations they need at home to grow and thrive.
Childhood Foundations
Like a house, strong foundations are essential for all children. In infancy, these childhood foundations start in the home. The strength of the foundations can both support and limit a child’s development. As a house depends on its foundations to withstand the elements, so do children for resilience to the pressures of life and the task of developing.
Research has shown that a child’s experiences and environment during their first 1000 days significantly impact their development into their future. Most brain development occurs during the early years, serving for ongoing learning, behaviour, and health. In infancy and toddlerhood, proper nutrition supports physical growth, cognitive development, and immune system function. The attachments infants form during early life provide them with a sense of safety, trust, and emotional stability. Put simply, childhood experiences and environment can shape a child’s physical, cognitive, emotional and social well-being for life.
All children deserve the following foundations:
- Physical care. This includes adequate nutrition, shelter, warmth, sleep and rest, and adequate clothing.
- Positive well-being. Such as feeling safe and secure, and access to medical care.
- Love and attention. Including feeling loved and valued unconditionally, receiving praise, and having positive relationships with their caregivers. These elements are linked with positive well-being (e.g., positive self-esteem).
- Access for play and growth. For example, access to toys (and time and space to play), access to outdoor spaces (to experience, learn and grow), opportunities to socialise with other children, and access to education.
However, being a parent is not always easy. For many families, life can be complicated, unjust and cruel. With parenting can come overwhelming challenges, such as serious health issues, disability, grief, and abusive relationships, to name a few. Behind closed doors, many parents are isolated, with no one to turn to. When parents struggle at home, children can too. Childhood foundations can become unstable, and joy and magic suffer.
A Cry For Help
It is often difficult to ask for help. Many of us keep our problems to ourselves, which can lead to more serious issues. Some of us do not have anyone to listen to them. Parents want the best for their children, and when they reach out for help, it is vital we respond.
When our community supports parents, we support children. Helping families in hardship prevents problems from spiralling out of control and keeps childhood foundations stable. By simply responding to a cry for help, and giving support early when it’s asked for, we can have a much bigger impact for the parent, for the child, and for the family. The well-being of the family can be strengthened, and the foundations and innocence of childhood protected.
Jane’s Story
Jane, a lone mother of three children (all under 5 years old), lived in a damp two-bedroom flat. She was alone with no social support or family living locally. Her youngest child, Sam, is severely disabled having contracted meningitis as a young baby. He is blind, deaf and unable to walk. Jane was struggling to manage the challenging behaviour of her two other children, Peter and John, alongside the complex needs of Sam. This meant attending Sam’s medical appointments was becoming very difficult.
Home-Start Volunteer, Wendy, visited the family and accompanied the family to medical appointments. Wendy helped look after Peter and John at the appointments, allowing Jane to get Sam the help he needed. Wendy brought activities along to play with the children and helped Jane with positive behaviour management strategies. Peter and John responded well and their behaviour is now much improved. Names have been changed for confidentiality.
“Home-Start helped me get back on my feet after my son got seriously ill. I don’t know what I would have done without them. They are such lovely caring people who genuinely want to help.”
Protecting Childhood
Children here in Bedfordshire experience life’s injustices, sometimes first-hand, other times during their home life. Home-Start Bedfordshire aims for a future where every child has a safe and happy childhood.
The majority of families our amazing local volunteers support need a helping hand and a shoulder to cry on during a difficult period in their lives, for example, a parent or child is suffering from an illness, disability, mental ill-health or bereavement. Our free services aim to support the parents and preserve and protect the joy and magic of childhood.
Being a parent doesn’t come with a handbook. That’s why we offer free courses for parents living in Bedfordshire aimed at building positive parent-and-child relationships and making families stronger and more resilient. We also run programmes in primary schools aimed at helping children to feel safe, and secure and have positive well-being skills.
Home-Start is also here to safeguard children from cruelty and maltreatment as well as adults from abuse. In homes where there is domestic abuse, the foundations for a safe and happy childhood crumble. No adult or child should live in fear in their home. As part of the Bedfordshire Domestic Abuse Partnership, our charity runs free courses aimed at helping families rebuild their lives free from abuse.
When unforeseen events take families by surprise, such as the pandemic and the cost of living crisis, we aim to support parents to maintain the foundations of childhood and give children the best start in life.
Thanks to our wonderful volunteers and supporters Home-Start Bedfordshire continues to be responsive to the needs of local parents and children.