Have you ever wondered how to explain “responsive parenting”? It’s not easy to put into words. It’s much easier to illustrate and understand using video. Take a look at a new video, How to: 5 Steps for Brain Building Serve and Return, from the Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University. It walks step-by-step through video examples of parents and other caregivers as they play, shop, and cook with their young children. The video shows each responsive adult’s undivided attention as s/he notices a child’s action, then follows the child’s lead to respond. These “serve and return” interactions happen when a child says or does something and the adult responds in a timely and focused manner to support the child’s action. Such continual back-and-forth interactions are essential parenting skills that build the child’s brain and the parent-child relationship during the earliest years of development from birth to 5 years.
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