3 Infancy, Toddlerhood, and Preschool 63(Iverson & Goldin-Meadow, 2005). Neuroscience suggests that infants begin
to process the language they are hearing long before they can speak and
that this lays down the pattern for exploring language (Dehaene-Lambertz,
Hertz-Pannier, & Dubois, 2006). The primacy of language (signed or vocal) is
clearly a major factor in the ability to interact socially.
From infancy through early childhood, the family (however, constituted
in that child’s environment) ideally creates social interaction that both pro-
motes infant development and allows development of the mind that will
serve that individual over a lifetime (Siegel, 2012). Even when socializa-
tion into customary social norms has not been successful, interventions to
repair the quality of the parent-child relationship appear to improve the
child’s ability to interact acceptably, as when aggressive children become
less so after improved parenting (Granic, O’Hara, Pepler, & Lewis, 2007).
Research shows that even a brief antenatal intervention to teach parents
how to adapt to and nurture their new baby can have positive impacts
as the child moves through toddlerhood (www.alphagalileo.org/ViewItem
.aspx?ItemId=145288&CultureCode=en).
When parents are not emotionally available in early childhood (e.g., due
to alcoholism, depression, emotional distancing, or substance use), children
exhibit less ability to emotionally self-regulate and exhibit more externalizing
behaviors upon entrance to school (Eiden, Edwards, & Leonard, 2007). The
converse is true as well: When children receive attuned caregiving, they exhibit
more empathy, eagerness to perform well, and prosocial behavior (Siegel,
2012). When parents guide children to identify emotions, regulate them appro-
priately, and use language, they are better prepared to be successful in school
(Denham et al., 2012). These same skills, together with socialization into reli-
gious and other community norms, help frame children’s understanding of
death and the rituals connected with it (Rosengren et al., 2014).
Children inevitably are exposed to death in the natural and social worlds
around them. Interestingly enough, adults often have more difficulty coping
with discussions of the subject than do the children (ages 3–6) (Rosengren et al.,
2014). Indeed, when it comes to teaching young children about death, many
adults hold paradoxical views. They believe they must shield young children
from death while at the same recognizing that youngsters need guidance to
process the meaning of it (Rosengren et al., 2014). This contradiction seems
to persist even though clinicians, teachers, and death educators all agree that
children benefit from direct, clear communication about death. When design-
ing research on socialization processes related to death, one team of investiga-
tors found that even their Institutional Review Board (the ethical oversight
board for research) required major modifications due to its members’ belief
that young children need preparation and support to answer hypothetical
questions about death (Rosengren et al., 2014).LOSSES EXPERIENCED IN INFANCY AND EARLY CHILDHOOD
Infants’ and toddlers’ experiences are difficult to know, but the death of a
caregiver has an obvious negative impact. Development is a primary factor:
Infants under about 6 months cope relatively well as long as their care routines