This program offers interesting tools to fathers and mothers.
Where to start? The amount of knowledge that this parenting requires cannot be learned in two days, and we can feel overwhelmed by this responsibility.
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PAPMI®, a program to make the challenge of parenting easier
Luckily, in recent years a team of researchers from the University of Valencia has developed a complex program, PAPMI® , which helps us equip ourselves with the tools and knowledge with which to be successful in this arduous task.
We have spoken with the psychologist Patricia Sánchez Merino , from Centro TAP , to learn more about what this program consists of and how it marks a milestone in the world of parenting and developmental psychology.
Bertrand Regader: What role does attachment play in the psychological development of babies?
TAP Center: Attachment is a fundamental milestone in human development because it plays an essential role in ensuring survival.
It manifests itself in behaviors seeking proximity and contact with the main figure at times when he feels stressed. In this way, it ensures the protection of him. If the child has developed emotional security or a secure attachment , he will feel more comfortable exploring the environment, both social and physical. Therefore, the development of other areas such as motor skills, language, etc. You will be more stimulated.
Emotional security is built within the mother-child relationship, or with the primary caregiver. So parenting goes beyond ensuring the physical development of babies. Affective development is essential for their emotional well-being both now and in the future.
Can the fact of developing one type of attachment or another have different repercussions when reaching adulthood?
Indeed, research indicates that the relationship experiences lived by boys and girls lead them to develop an idea or ‘mental representation’ of how predictable the figure of the adult who cares for them is.
Therefore, according to this, he will go to her in times of stress to obtain the comfort that this figure will provide him, reduce his discomfort and explore again. This describes children who have an emotionally tuned relationship experience and develop their secure attachment. Studies indicate that these children show more social competence in their relationships, and less probability of emotional problems in childhood and adolescence. Emotional security can function as a protective factor against adversity.
There is a percentage in the population in which there is a lack of emotional understanding between the baby and his caregiver figure, this can lead the child, upon reaching that milestone of his development, to generate, based on his experience, certain insecurities that manifest in insecure attachments. Studies indicate that these children in their childhood and adolescence have less social competence and also a higher risk of manifesting behavioral and emotional problems. Obviously, there are also cases, fortunately fewer, in which babies suffer traumatic experiences that leave an emotional imprint that predisposes them to develop more serious problems, but that are susceptible to change if conditions also change favorably.
The development of a human being is very complex and responds to multiple vectors. The desirable thing is to promote healthy relationships. In the first stage of life, socio-affective experiences are anchored in the foundations of development. However, it is necessary to cover stages, an early childhood with emotional security is desirable and mothers and fathers must be helped with upbringing. This prepares for a healthy turbulent adolescence in which the individual assents to her identity. A healthy adolescence prepares for as full an adult life as possible. Step by step, the baggage of one stage facilitates or hinders the next.
How does the PAPMI® program contribute to children growing up in a healthy way in terms of their emotional and cognitive development?
We know that parenting is not an easy period, since there are many individual and collective adaptations that have to be carried out before the arrival of the baby.
There are many fathers and mothers who seek support and information in the environment with the arrival of their son or daughter, but this information does not always help them, many times it does not fit with the parenting model they want to exercise… Other times they receive contradictory information for which is very difficult to guess which is the best option. We also know that not all the information on the internet is valid and/or verified because sometimes they are personal opinions not based on more than the own experience of each one, which may or may not be useful to us.
At PAPMI® we accompany fathers and mothers individually, with an empirically proven scientific methodology, and tailored to each family. It is a service that comes from the transfer of knowledge. The PAPMI® was developed by Dr. Cerezo at the University of Valencia and now parents can count on it both in Valencia (at IPINFA, a spin-off company of the University) and in Madrid, at our center.
We see with them throughout the first months of life what they find in their babies’ day-to-day, but not only attending to their son or daughter, but also to mothers and fathers as protagonists of the upbringing process. In addition to caring for the parents in their upbringing, we evaluate the babies and assess the evolutionary milestones according to their age, and we monitor their emotional development and attachment.
What are the benefits of having the help of psychologists supporting parenting methods?
Undoubtedly, as we said, the PAPMI® Program (P/Mother-Child Psychological Support Program) offers parents professional, scientific information, but at the same time close, so that they can develop in their role as fathers and mothers with enjoyment and peace of mind, as we say, the peace of mind of knowing that they are doing what is best for their babies.
These improve knowledge about your baby, doubts are clarified, expectations are adjusted, there is feedback on certain practices and guidance on what to do. In addition, it is a space where caregivers can share feelings related to parenting, in such a way that we accompany them to resolve possible emotions such as doubts, insecurities, and fears. The benefits, therefore, are those of having professional and contrasted information by professionals specialized in the matter, as well as having emotional accompaniment in parenting.
In your experience, what are the main concerns and needs of those who are interested in the PAPMI®?
Many mothers and fathers who come to PAPMI® in our center understand that, in the same way that during pregnancy and childbirth they have been accompanied by professional figures such as the gynaecologist, midwife or pediatrician, they wish to continue with the professional criteria of the psychologists trained in the program. Some are new to parenting, but others are not, and they come to manage parenting, this time in another context, now there are more families, siblings, different times…
As the program is developed throughout the first 18 months of the baby’s life with a closed session format, the queries that come to us are of all kinds, depending on the moment of development and the casuistry of the baby, but they have to do with doubts about sleep, food, routines, the baby’s crying, etc… but in many cases, about adaptation to the baby, exhaustion, the couple’s accommodation to the new situation, or individual difficulties that the members of the couple encounter in the parenting process.
Finally… could you give some basic parenting tips to help children enjoy emotional stability?
- Spend time with the babies and in this time include certain periods of face-to-face relationship. You don’t need much because they run out quickly. We are talking about periods of five minutes in babies of 3 months and it varies according to age. At this time it is about listening and connecting with gestures and sounds to what the baby does, leaving him space to communicate. Being able to identify the needs of the baby and knowing how to cover them at each stage of development with your child will favor the development of an attachment
- Parenting can be a unique occasion for our personal development. It is important to be able to identify as mothers and fathers what our strengths are in order to be able to enhance them and generate changes to minimize weaknesses.
- Obviously we do not have to be experts in the development of babies, but being well informed will allow us to adjust expectations, have a better handling of situations or be able to stimulate a better development of our babies. This information in the personalized context of visits to PAPMI® can be found in Madrid at Centro TAP. Thus normalizing the monitoring and control of the baby’s socio-emotional development, in the same way that they do with the pediatric control of their physical health.
- Boys and girls are going to show us different demands based on their needs regarding hunger, sleep, company, play… Being able to accompany the baby in the regulation of these needs is a main task of maternity. To this end, it helps extraordinarily to have personalized guidance from specialists such as those of PAPMI®.
- For children to learn to manage their negative emotions, they need their parents to be calm and show that they know how to regulate themselves emotionally as well. This allows conflicts to be handled properly and the relationship to be more fluid. Therefore, we must strengthen those aspects in us if we believe that situations overwhelm us.
- You have to be aware that there is always uncertainty in parenting. We will never be able to have control over everything that happens. However, navigating these uncertain waters becomes easier if we have the support and information of PAMPI® professionals.
To the classic question “what do you do?” I always answer “basically I am a psychologist”. In fact, my academic training has revolved around the psychology of development, education and community, a field of study influenced my volunteer activities, as well as my first work experiences in personal services.