Supporting Healthy Relationships Between Young Children and Their Parents

At a child care center, 18-month-old Hannah is clinging to her mother and crying as they enter. Her mother pulls Hannah’s hands from her arm, saying, “Don’t be such a crybaby and go play.” In a pediatrician’s waiting room, two-year-old Carlos climbs dangerously high on the furniture. He throws a toy at his mother when she calls his name. His mother laughs nervously and says quietly, “I don’t know what to do with him.” In a family’s kitchen, one-year-old Keisha yanks on a locked kitchen cabinet while her father is cooking. Her father kneels next to Keisha and says, “Oh I see you are trying to get into this cabinet, but these glass pans are for me. Let’s make a drawer with some plastic kitchen things for you. You can use them while Daddy cooks.”