Written By Efrim C.
Back in March, I wrote that telling a child that something is “dangerous” without any further clarification or context on the situation gives children neither actionable information about the world around them (what exactly is dangerous? Why? What might happen?) nor new ways to navigate it (what to do to avert an unsafe consequence? What is a safe choice that achieves the same goal?). I discussed how our reactions to children and the world we share with them have real material impacts on the reality they inhabit and how they interact with the environment and those around them.
In that earlier article I mostly addressed situations that apply to our waddler, toddler and preschool population. I want to return to this idea again to emphasize that it also applies to infant and non-verbal children as well. Below are two short videos that demonstrate this concept through clinical studies. The videos emphasize that when faced with uncertainty, children of all ages will look to their caregivers to determine the level of risk they face. More importantly, however, they show that when supported and given the freedom and opportunity to do so, they learn very quickly how to decide for themselves instead.
“This particular study demonstrates the roll of non-verbal communication in determining the child’s behavior in uncertain contexts. A baby will, when encountering something ambiguous, something uncertain, will typically look to the significant other, the mother, the father, a grandparent, a caregiver in order to figure out what to do.”
— Joseph Campos, PhD
University of California Berkley
“If there is no safety glass, you can test the same baby dozens and dozens and dozens of trials in the same session, and that means that you can determine for each individual infant when they think that surface is safe and when they think it’s risky within a couple of degrees of accuracy.”
— Dr. Karen Adolph,
Professor of Psychology
New York University
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