What Happens During The Parent-Child Bonding Process?
The Power Of Affection
Some activities elicit love, affection, and attachment during the parent and child bonding. For example, when parents show affection towards their children, it induces the hormone oxytocin. Oxytocin is a vital hormone that significantly helps the child’s brain development. For instance, growing up, a child that experiences lots of affection will become an adult with healthy self-esteem, positive social interaction, and positive emotional response.
In a previous post, I discussed the importance of parent-child bonding.
But, in this article, I will discuss what happens during the bonding process, why it is essential between the parent and child, and how it dictates how the child will navigate life as an adult.
The Parent-Child Bonding Process
The father-child relationship is vital to a child’s psychological development into a healthy adult, meaning the bond that the father creates with the child is imperative to the child’s emotional, mental, physiological, and cognitive health.
Secondly, the parent-child bonding process is significant when it comes to the developing brain of a child because the bonding process activates the “happy chemicals” (Oxytocin, serotonin, dopamine, and endorphins). These chemicals shape the child’s mental, emotional, and spiritual health. Likewise, they impact their self-esteem, self-confidence, social interaction, and social skills.
What Happens When Parents Don’t Bond With Their Children?
The absence of the bonding process may indicate traumatic experiences such as living with emotionally detached parents; the daily home activities may become stressful for the child. Experiencing stress releases adrenaline and cortisol (the fight or flight response), an essential protective hormone. Therefore, a child growing up in a home where they may feel constantly stressed may adversely impact brain development.
In other words, when a child is constantly experiencing stressful situations, there is a constant release of adrenaline and cortisol, and these hormones may adversely affect the child’s developing brain.
Long-term effects of trauma produce psychological symptoms such as unhealthy fear, anxiety, depression, insecurity, stress, addictions, social anxiety, co-dependency, low self-esteem, low self-confidence, and ineffective communication.
Physical effects in adults include diabetes, obesity, heart disease, insomnia, and high blood pressure.
In conclusion, two things happen during a child’s upbringing. Either there is bonding, affection, and attachment happening, which produces hormones such as oxytocin and serotonin needed for a child’s healthy development, or there is trauma which releases cortisol and adrenalin, which contributes to unhealthy psychological and physical effects in the child.
For more information on how a person’s upbringing affects them as adults, read more articles on the blog through the links below.
How trauma affects our thought patterns
How to prevent psychological health issues in your children
