Week 6, Term 2 2026
Attachment is a relationship in the service of a baby’s emotion regulation and exploration. It is the deep, abiding confidence a baby has in the availability and responsiveness of the carer.
Alan Sroufe
THIS WEEK’S TOPIC
Big Feelings
When a child is overwhelmed by a big emotion, our natural impulse might be to minimize it with phrases like, "there, there, you're alright." However, this response inadvertently dismisses their feelings and hinders their ability to recognize and understand how they genuinely feel.
It is difficult for anyone—especially a child—to grasp a feeling when their experience is invalidated, whether through words or actions. Consider how you feel as an adult when a well-meaning friend tells you not to worry about something that is causing you genuine distress. You feel dismissed. What you truly wanted was for someone to acknowledge your struggle and offer support.
We all share a fundamental need to be seen and to have our emotions validated. Infants, who are just beginning to experience these sensations, rely on us to validate them so they can build an understanding of their different emotional experiences.
As parents, our role is to hold space for the child's big emotion. By remaining calm, we help them co-regulate, allowing them to eventually regain their emotional balance. Learning to attune to our child's emotions, helps us to better support them and understand what they are trying to tell us through their actions. Remember “all behaviour is a form of communication.”
How do you show your emotions or do you have a tendency to dismiss or suppress them? As always, understanding how we regulate our own emotions will allow us to help our children regulate theirs.
Recipe of the week:
Easiest Chocolate Chip Cookies
Courtesy of Toddler to Table by Luka McCabe
Ingredients
2 cups almond meal
¼ cup maple syrup
60ml coconut oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
½ tsp baking powder
50-60g milk chocolate chopped (optional)
Method
Preheat the oven to 180c. Line the baking tray with parchment.
In a large bowl combine almond meal, maple syrup, coconut oil, vanilla extract and baking powder.
Fold through the chocolate if using.
Roll into desired size balls and press them into rounds with your fingers.
Space evenly on the baking tray and bake base for 10-15 mins until golden brown but still soft in the middle.
Leave to cool and firm up on a wire rack.
Will keep for 3-4 days in a tin or up to 3 months in the freezer.
