Bowlby's Attachment Theory Essay

Bowlby and his attachment theory has four stages in bereavement which are:
Shock
Yearning and protest
Despair
Recovery
Shock is where a child reacts to the bereavement and loss of a love one especially a parent. When a child is in shock they tend to be more emotional and in younger children they don’t understand as much as older children do. Shock is an emotional stage to go through. I have seen this in my previous setting where the child has changed where her behaviour has changed from the day before she was very happy then the next day she was very sad and upset.
Yearning and protest is where a child protests and is the next stage after shock. The child is beginning to protest about anything as the child is still emotional about the loss

of a loved one. The child is showing anger at themselves or others for the situation. A child can hit out at others as a protest and in anger during this difficult time.
Despair is the next stage after yearning and protest. In this stage the child may appear to be unhappy and in distress about the loss of a loved one. The child may cry and show feelings of despair during this stage of grief. The child may want to express their feelings of despair through role play and by putting on a puppet show. I have seen this stage in my previous setting where a child has seemed to be in distressed and unhappy about the news she has been given.
Recovery is the last stage of grief. During this stage the child may begin to recover from the grief and bereavement. The child can recover by expressing their feelings to others during circle time activities, the child can also use role play to express how they feel. The child can even have a sit down with a practitioner to talk about the person who they have lost and talk about the good things and what they enjoyed doing with that individual. I have seen this in my previous setting where the child was telling me about all the good things that she did with her deceased loved one.
This theory explains the need of having human bonds and attachments to have strong and affectionate bonds with others and losing those strong affectionate bonds with those people. (Journals.rcni.com)
Bowlby thought that children have a motivational ‘attachment system’. His theory includes relationships for early attachment and the reaction of a bereavement. Bowlby believed that children could experience grief healthily or problematically depending on the child as every child is different. This also depends on how organized the child’s attachment system is while in developmental stages. Bowlby believes that the children’s bonds continue even when a person they are attached to becomes deceased rather than those bonds breaking enabling the child to develop new bonds to have new relationships with others. (gregmadison.net) Bowlby’s attachment theory also links into change and transitions as the practitioners need a bond with the child to work closely with him/her to help the child through this difficult time. Children are more likely to be more open to practitioners if they are attached to the practitioner. Bowlby’s attachment theory includes being attached from birth which the child needs to have a secure attachment to the primary caregiver. Bowlby believes that the child needs to be attached to one person which he calls ‘the primary caregiver’. The primary caregiver is usually the mother of the child. Bowlby believes that if the child fails to bond with the primary caregiver this will have negative effects on the child. He argued that children need the same continuous care for the first 2-3 years of the child’s life to form the emotional bond. If this bond is disrupted or broken then this will have an irreversible long-term effect on the child which the risk of this happening continues until the child is 5 years of age. Bowlby uses the term ‘maternal deprivation’ to refer to not just broken or disrupted bonds but for separation or loss of the primary caregiver. (simplypsychology.org)
Elisabeth Kübler-Ross’ theory includes five stages of grief.

Her theory is based on bereavement and loss. She made a theory based on supporting people who have gone through a bereavement by counselling. Her five stages are: denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance. This theory can be used to observe other factors which can traumatise or upset a person such as losing a job, gaining an injury or relationship-break up. These factors are far less extreme than losing a loved one. The five stages of grief is also known as the ‘grief cycle’. The five stages of grief is a model of the grief stages. The first stage denial is where a child refuses to accept the facts, reality and information, relating to the current scenario. The second stage anger is the second stage of the five stages and is where the child can be angry with themselves and/or others, especially those who are close to them. The next stage is bargaining which means that the child bargains with whatever god or person they believe in. Depression is the next stage after bargaining which is the stage in which is preparing the child for the aftermath. The last stage acceptance is where there is emotional detachment. A dying person can go through this stage before the people who are left behind. The people who are left behind must pass through the five stages through their own way of dealing with grief.

(businessballs.com)
Kübler-Ross’s theory is very similar to Bandura’s as they both have stages of grief which includes the first stage where both are the reaction after the scenario has happened. The second stage in both theories include anger at themselves or others these are the emotional stages. The both theories are based on grief and the child needs to go through them all.
Rando is another theorist who developed a theory based on mourning which is what a person goes through during a bereavement. He came up with a process of mourning. Rando came up with 6 stages of mourning. These are recognize; react; recollect; readjust; relinquish and reinvent. Rando’s theory is based on the process which happens when a person loses a loved one. Rando calls the six stages the ‘R model’. Recognize is the first stage which is where the person recognizes the loss. The person should recognize and acknowledge this loss to be able to move onto the next stage. React is where a person is reacting to the separation which has happened. Including experiencing and expressing a variety of emotions. Recollect is where the person looks back and begin to experience the relationship again. Relinquish is where a person accepting the facts and moving on while knowing that there is no turning back. Readjust is where the person begins to get back into their own daily routine and the pain from losing their loved one begins to fade away. Reinvent is where the person begins to form new relationships with others accepting the fact that the changes has happened and this replaces the separation with a new relationship. When a person reaches this stage they begin to accept the fact even more that their loved one is gone and moving on from them. (www.cetuesday.com)
C2) There are standards which are relevant to supporting changes and transitions and these standards are; child centred practice; putting the child first; ensuring their welfare and safety; promoting children’s rights; working in partnerships with parents/respecting their contribution; respecting culture/customs and values of the families; supporting individual needs; respecting background of family/family structure; working with professionals and maintaining confidentiality. The setting should have a child centred practice because the child should not have to fit the curriculum but the curriculum should change to fit the child’s individual needs but, every child is different and not every family is the same. This is putting the child at the centre of practice to be able to meet the child’s individual needs and to plan around the child’s individual needs. The setting must put the child first because practitioners need to be able to meet the child’s needs by putting the child’s needs first before anyone else’s to ensure that their needs are being met. The practitioners must make sure that the children are safe. The practitioners must safeguard the child from any potential harm or danger such as locking the gates to stop the children from running out of school where anyone can find the child and take them away. The practitioners must promote the children’s rights as the child has rights to a flying start in life and good health. The practitioners should work in partnership with parents to communicate with the parents enabling them to work together to share information about how the child is doing at home and while he/she is in the setting. The practitioners must respect the parent’s contribution so that the parents feel respected and when they feel respected the parents can trust the practitioners. The practitioners should respect the child’s culture so that the practitioners can include the child and fit the planning and the foundation phase curriculum around the child’s culture so that the child’s individual needs are met. The practitioners should take into consideration the family’s structure whether the child is an only child or has lots of siblings which they have a busy and chaotic home life. This helps practitioners to be able to give advice to the child’s parent if needed. The practitioners should work with other professionals so that the child’s needs are being met to be able to help the child to develop more. Practitioners should keep confidentiality because the information about the child should not be told to anyone, only the people who should know so that the parents can trust the practitioner. If confidentiality wasn’t maintained the parent wouldn’t be able to trust the practitioners which may affect the child’s progress and development.