I have a firm opinion about trust; that is, trust is the only foundation for any relation. Whether it is a parent and kids, the spouses, or the friendship, if the relationship had a thin mistrust shade, the relation won't last long.
Do you agree with me? Some may have conflicts. But, if any relationship doesn't have the trust pillars, it will break down indeed.
We think trust is an emotion that grows slowly depending upon the surroundings and the experiences we have. But, do you know, the trust starts to build within yourself, since your infancy.
A famous psychologist says the trust vs. mistrust factor thrives in a person when they are a kid. It is the early stage, where they start to know these essential elements. And, further on, these elements begin to change their nature, either positively or negatively.
This entire journey of trust and mistrust is known as psychological development, which everyone goes through. Whereas psychological development has seven stages, during which a little learn something through every event and adopts the learning in their real life.
Let's learn more about it.
What is Trust vs. Mistrust?
Trust vs. mistrust is nothing but the very first stage of your psychological development, says, Psychiatrist. According to them, this stage is critical in your life. During this stage, you learn to see the world differently, which has a considerable impact on your overall personality.
Stage one of the psychological development holds up to a child till their 18th month. When you were a kid, of course, such a thing may have gone missing. But, if you are a parent and reading this article, it will be an essential part of your life.
So, as I said earlier, trust vs. mistrust is the first stage of a kid's psychological development, which thrives in them through the event called FEEDING.
Before going with this in-depth, let's know the importance of trust.
What is the importance of trust for babies?
You will be amazed by knowing that you sow the seeds of trust in your kid with your actions in their babyhood. They feel safe and secure when their caregiver passes the sense of confidence to them.
In a research, it is shown that when a kid feels trusted in their childhood, they can roam in the world and build trustworthy relationships.
We have seen many people with the trust issue. The reason behind their mistrust may be linked to their infancy. A caregiver to a baby can have a significant effect on their mental and physical health.
You, as a caregiver, shaping a kid's world and defining the world of a child when they are grown up. Surprising right?
How can you build trust in your baby?
We all know, baby can not speak. So, they can not use words to communicate with you. But, they start to understand the events happening in their surrounding.
So, you need to reply and communicate to a kid with their nonverbal way of communication. One of the most common forms of their communication is crying.
Although, the mother understood their language.
Coming back to the crying, the baby tries to communicate with you through their cries— the reason for their cry maybe, affection, comfort, food, and so on.
Being a caregiver, you need to be careful with the comfort of your kid. One way of showing care would be holding them close and secure. The same principle applies to feeding. When you feed a kid, when they need it, it builds a sense of trust of nourishment to them.
The point to remember here is, not all babies will cry to communicate with you. Every baby has a different language of communication. In such times, you need to be conscious and noticing the signals your kid is giving to you. Signals can be like, crying, body moments, or a few words.
This stage 1 of the psychological development in a kid's life is a critical phase of their life. So, as a guardian, your responsibility is enormous in making your kid feeling trusted.
What if the kid doesn't feel trusted?
The answer is straightforward if a kid doesn't feel trusted by their guardian, the sense of mistrust will start to blooming, which is not a good sign for their overall development.
If a kid starts to feel unreliable, unpredictable behavior by their parents, they start moving towards mistrust. The consequences of this feeling can be found not good for their mental health.
A little sense of mistrust is enough to make your kid anxious, fearful, confused, which can end up in an unhealthy relationship. Along with this, the kid can approach loneliness and keeps themselves isolated.
Why trust and mistrust are essential?
Erik Erikson, a famous child psychologist says, the sense of trust and mistrust builds in a child during his first year, or approximately up to 18 years.
They say this sense in a kid grows through the event of feeding. They believe this stage of the building of trust or mistrust in an infant is a great way to create a kid for their fourth life.
If a kid can be given a proper response to their every communication signal, the kid will grow up with a sense of trust. Otherwise, the scene will inverse.
If a kid grew up with a sense of mistrust, they would not be as confident as they would be with the purpose of the trust in their upcoming events of life.
That is the main reason why Erik Erikson urges this early duration of the infant to be the most essential and useful part of their life.
To explain this, I have an example to make you understand the brain leading of the sense.
For instance, consider a kid is crying. So, they are expecting their caregiver to come to them. If the caregiver approaches the kid, it builds a sense of trust, and if the caregiver ignores them, it will induce a sense of mistrust.
Like this simple event, you can understand your actions' real nature and a kid's sense.
Can I trust the people around me?
This is the essential question your child will have after they grew up. The seeds of this question will be cultivated in their childhood only. And the result will be received in their adulthood.
If, during their childhood, they learn to receive the sense of trust, indeed, they will be successful in establishing the trust bonds.
Conversely, if they had any mistrust experience in their childhood, they will face doubt, which will be the worst phase of their life.
Today, when we meet someone, we can not trust them easily. I will not say, we had experienced the phase of mistrust when we were a kid.
However, today's world is not so much promising to trust everyone. And, living up in such an environment needs to be conscious. But, the trust factor also matters.
It would help if you had that sense of awareness alive within yourself. Whom to trust and home to not trust? This is the central question we have today.
You can not trust every single person you met. And you can not doubt every single person you are meeting too. So, this element of trust is so essential to get build in your child.
They should know which bond they have to build with the surrounding. They should not get to emerge themselves in a compartment of loneliness, stress, anxiety, and so on.
For this, the building of a sense of trust at their early age is so essential.
The Bottom Line
Going through the above batch of the sentence, you have understood the nature of trust and mistrust and the importance of the same. You now know that your behavior and act can significantly impact your kid even though they can't speak and understand the real matters.
Your actions will decide the next reaction and the feelings of your kid. So, it is crucial to give your kid a touch of sense that they will act accordingly.
You can see nowadays, very young kids face depressions. Somewhere, it is not the only actual situation they are facing. But some of those ignored acts you have done unknowingly.
Well, it's better to be late than never. You can change your actions if you think they can leave a destructive impact on your baby. You will see the observed positive changes in your kid.