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Carol-Rose Urrea

Denise Sidney

ECE 252 - 1001

1 October 2019

Attachment Observation

Observe day care/home care setting/child being left with non family person and respond to the

following questions. Use separate paper to record the observation. Respond to the items using

given format. Give specific examples of behavior in your responses. One example may NOT be

used for multiple responses.

Introduction

Part A

1. Give a description of gender and age of the specific child observed (must be between 9

and 30 months), as well as setting (place and size of the group) and length of time

observing. (5 points)

a. The child I observed was 1 year old and she was a female name Alivia. I observed

Alivia at her babysitters house where she usually goes Monday-Friday 8 am - 5

pm, however for my observation I was there for two hours, 8 am - 10 am. Alivia’s

babysitter also takes care of two other children, her sister, Amelia (age 2), and a

little boy, Mason (age 2) so there are 3 children in total.

2. Write an objective observation of either arrival or departure time. (10 points)

a. When Alivia arrived to the babysitters home her mother was holding her; Sheryl

(babysitter) greeted Alivia and her sister Amelia by saying, “good morning my
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pumpkins.” Amelia gave Sheryl a hug and walked inside, Since Alivia was being

held, Alivia at first turned her head away when Sheryl reached out to grab her

from her mother, she kicked her legs and made a whining sound for a quick

second, but her mother said something to her and Sherly rubbed Alivia's back

while she whined in her mother's arms. In an instant it seemed, Alivia stopped

fussing; she took her head from her mother's shoulder, looked at Sheryl with a

slight smile and reached her arms out to her.

Part B - Base the following answers on your objective observation (Part A/2) of the child’s

interaction with their parent. (This is your interpretation of the objective observation.)

1. What attachment promoting behaviors do you see the child displaying? (5 points)

a. Right when Aliva arrived at Sheryl’s house Alivia instantly clinged to her mother

by turning her head away from the babysitter, whining, and kicking.

2. How does the parent respond? (5 points)

a. Alivia’s mother was rubbing Alivia's back and told Alivia, “It’s okay, I will be

back for you soon, but right now you get to play with sissy and mason, and you

get to spend time with grandma” (Sheryl is a friend from their church, they just

call her grandma, not actually related in anyway).

3. How does the caregiver respond? (5 points)

a. When Alivia began to whine Sheryl tilted her head and also rubbed Alivia's back,

and said, “Alivia are you not having a very good morning?”

4. Can you tell how the parent feels about the child’s attachment to the caregiver? (5 points)

a. Yes, I was able to tell when Jasmine (mother) told Alivia that right now she gets

to spend time with Sheryl.

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Part C - Base your answers on your objective observation (Part A/2) of the child’s

interaction with the caregiver. (This is your interpretation of the objective observation.)

1. What attachment-promoting behaviors do you see the child displaying? (5 points)

a. When Alivia stopped whining, she reached out to Sheryl herself, and that showed

me that she trusts Sheryl and will be receiving the same amount of comfort she

would from her mother.

2. What evidence of the attachment dance do you observe? (Caregiver promoting

attachment behavior.) (5 points)

a. Sheryl promoted attachment behavior by greeting Aliva and her sister when they

first arrived, she also showed comfort towards her as she rubbed Alivia's back

when she whined and kicked, and she let Alivia come to her when she was ready

rather than just snatching her from her mother right away.

Part D

1. How did you feel about this observation? (5 points)

a. I really enjoyed this observation as much as I did the last one. It was nice to first

handedly see how my niece spends her day and how well she gets treated by her

caregiver. While I was observing the scene, I noticed Sheryl did a wonderful job

at respecting the children she cares for, she talked to them, and even talked to

Alivia even though she can’t fully pronounce words yet. Sheryl did a lot of things

our DAP says you should do, I was so amazed that I started to think she read the

book herself.

2. What advice might you give to the caregiver and/or parent? (5 points)
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a. I am not sure if I would get points taken off for this, but I truly could not give

them advice because I feel like they both did a really great job at providing Alivia

comfort when she wasn't wanting to go right away, they both were very patient

with Alivia, and so if I were to give them advice I would be lying.