Attachment

[playfelt]

About the time kids are pulling to a stand and starting to cruise the furniture until the time they actually walk they often go through a separation stage. It has to do with realizing they have the ability to move away. What I prefer to do with kids in this stage is what I call come back training. That means putting the child down and letting them see you right there then walk away out of sight and of couse they will wail. Then almost immediately walk back into their view but do not interact with them. Just keep doing that over and over. If you have two doorways to the room even better that you leave by one and come back by the other. Child sees you go and then doesn't know which door to follow you. It becomes a game of sorts. Eventually the child learns the lesson that you go away and you come back. And there is nothing you can do to rush the child through this stage of development it just happens and it just ends. The sooner it ends the sooner the child starts relying on themselves for more things from playing alone, sleeping alone, looking to others to interact and not just the caregiver. It's like they suddenly become socail beings - and it coincides with learning to walk and become independent. Some kids scream through it and some wimper through it but they all go through it in some way.