The environment that surrounds your child matters. The early care of children has long-lasting effects on them and they are particularly sensitive to the atmosphere and their immediate surroundings. It is therefore important that the environment that children find themselves in has all the right ingredients to allow them to grow and to thrive.



The term environment includes everything that children are exposed to in terms of a lifestyle, such as opportunities for indoor and outdoor play, a healthy diet, the adults that surround the child, hazard-free surroundings and the amount of attention and support that they receive. Even before birth the environment that the pregnant mother finds herself in is important.

Children learn in a variety of different ways and adults who are active and are involved with the child and have an understanding of when to interact and when to step back are an essential part of the child's environment.

Babies and young children need environments that are stimulating and yet safe, they need to be allowed to explore and discover their surrounds on their own yet remain safe and they need to be able to creatively express themselves within their environment.

The adults within the environment of the child need to be able to respect the child's needs and listen when these needs are being expressed. This allows that child to feel valued and trustful of their needs being met. The environment should give the child confidence and a sense of belonging, they should feel protected but not over restricted and they should be able to learn how to make healthy lifestyle choices such as what to eat and when to put on a coat.

When a child becomes part of your family you will almost automatically and unconsciously alter the environment to become child friendly and your parental instincts will subtly change your behaviour to accommodate the growing needs of your child. Imagine you are the parent of a two-year-old explorer. One of the first things you will almost certainly do is to place a stair gate at the bottom and perhaps at the top of your stairs. You will instinctively know that the stairs represent a hazard and should only be climbed with supervision. This is you altering your environment to suit the needs of your child.

The way you speak with your child is an important part of the environment you are providing as, even for very young babies, the tone of your voice has great meaning for them. Calm, even tones will be soothing and may result in a confident and even tempered two-year-old whereas a baby exposed to a lot of shouting may be a nervous toddler.

As you can see the surroundings and those adults in it have a great deal of influence over the very young. In order to have confident and happy children who feel valued and have developed a positive sense of self it is important that the environment in which they live is one likely to foster effective and confident development.