Positive early memories can serve as internal templates for good caregiving

Evidence

Alicia Lieberman, a colleague of Fraiberg’s who carried on the work at the University of California, San Francisco, added a complementary concept in 2007: “Angels in the Nursery” — the positive early memories that coexist with adverse ones and serve as internal resources. The parent who can call up an image of a grandmother who was kind, a teacher who believed in them, an older sibling who protected them — this parent has something to draw on, a template for what good care looks like, even in the midst of an otherwise harsh childhood. — , The Rod and the Child, 8590

Categorization

• DEFINE: Introduces ‘Angels in the Nursery’ as a named, operationally useful construct.
• SEED: Possible angle: the therapeutic practice of deliberately excavating positive childhood memories as a trauma-intervention tool.
• XREF: connects to: Infant attachment to caregivers forms the foundation for later self-concept and identity development. — Forming Attachments; Responsive caregiving is the biological baseline for an infant’s stress system. — , The Rod and the Child: A Global History…, 9707; High-ACE parents generate high-ACE environments for their children within a single practice — , The Rod and the Child: A Global History…, 7084

Broader Connections

• High-ACE parents generate high-ACE environments for their children within a single practice #qualifies (0.45) — , The Rod and the Child, 7084
• Responsive caregiving is the biological baseline for an infant’s stress system. #complicates (0.40) — , The Rod and the Child, 9707