Transition to daycare in early childhood: the role of responsive education

A child’s entry into daycare represents a significant evolutionary milestone, during which their relational system expands through encounters with new adult figures, new spaces, and the peer group. This journey accompanies the development of emotional, social, cognitive, and communicative skills through experiences of exploration, interaction, and shared learning.

Early relationships play a significant role in building emotional security, developing autonomy, and the child’s ability to participate in social life. Bowlby (1969) described the attachment system as an evolutionary mechanism oriented toward seeking protection and proximity to the reference figure. Ainsworth et al. (1978), through the observational procedure of the Strange Situation, highlighted how the quality of the early relationship influences how the child uses the caregiver as a secure base to explore the environment.

The daycare represents an educational context in which the child can develop new forms of verbal and non-verbal communication, build relationships with peers through play, and progressively participate in group life. The responsive educational relationship of the educators fosters a sense of security and supports the child during the process of adaptation to the new environment.

Any distress associated with separation from the family figure is part of the normal emotional development path and can decrease when the child encounters educational continuity, sensitive adults, and predictable routines.

The first years of life are characterized by a rapid evolution of motor, cognitive, linguistic, emotional, and relational skills. The child builds knowledge of the world through direct experience and through exchanges with the people who participate in their growth.

Entry into daycare expands their relational context, offering new opportunities for learning through participation in daily activities, contact with educators, and interaction with other children. The transition from the home environment to the educational context requires a gradual process in which the child acquires familiarity with new spaces, routines, and people. This change is accompanied while respecting individual characteristics, the temperament, and the adaptation times of each child.

The quality of the educational experience depends on the meeting between the child’s needs, the adult’s ability to respond to their cues, and the characteristics of the environment in which interactions take place.

Attachment and emotional security

Bowlby (1969) described the attachment bond as a biologically oriented system for seeking protection and security. The presence of an available and sensitive figure allows the child to use the relationship as a secure base from which to explore the environment and face new situations.
Ainsworth et al. (1978), through studies conducted with the Strange Situation, further explored the relationship between the quality of the early relationship and environmental exploration. The authors highlighted how a relationship characterized by sensitivity, responsiveness and the ability to understand the child’s cues fosters the development of emotional security.

In the daycare context the child maintains the emotional bond built within the family and, at the same time, expands their relational system through new experiences with educators and peers. The construction of a responsive educational relationship allows them to develop trust in the new environment and to progressively participate in group activities.

This relationship is based on the educator’s ability to observe the child’s behavior, recognize their emotional needs, and offer consistent responses. This relational mode supports emotional regulation and fosters the gradual transition from initial dependence toward progressive forms of autonomy.

The NICHD Early Child Care Research Network (2002) highlighted how the quality of adult-child interactions in educational services is associated with child development, emphasizing the role of daily relational experiences in emotional, cognitive, and social processes.

 

Peer relationships and bonding between children

The presence of peers offers the child a context in which to experiment with the first forms of socialization and group participation. From the first years of life, children show interest in others through eye contact, smiles, imitation, seeking proximity, and sharing simple activities.
Child-to-child bonding describes the gradual process through which positive peer bonds develop, based on familiarity, reciprocity, and shared experiences. These first social connections foster the ability to recognize others’ emotions, interpret communicative signals, and participate in collective activities.

Howes (1983) analyzed the development of peer relationships in early childhood, highlighting how interactions between children can acquire characteristics of reciprocity and stability as early as the first years of life. Through daily contact with peers, the child learns modes of collaboration, imitation, and social participation.
Rubin et al. (2009) also highlighted how experiences with peers during childhood are associated with the development of social skills and the ways in which the child participates in groups.

In daycare, these experiences occur mainly through play, daily routines, and shared activities. The peer group thus offers opportunities to practice taking turns, sharing objects, understanding emotions, and adapting to the needs of others. Daily interaction fosters the building of a sense of belonging and supports the development of early relational skills.

 

Verbal and non-verbal communication in the daycare context

In the first years of life, communication develops through multiple modes, including language, gestures, facial expressions, body movements, and emotional exchanges. Before the full acquisition of words, the child communicates through eye contact, smiles, vocalizations, posture, and seeking proximity to others.

Trevarthen (1979) described the early forms of intersubjective communication, highlighting how the child is predisposed, from the first months of life, to sharing emotional states and intentions with reference figures.
In the educational context of daycare, non-verbal communication plays a fundamental role, as it allows the child to engage in relationships even before the full development of language. Eye contact, imitation, tone of voice, and emotional expressions contribute to the construction of relational exchange.

With the progressive development of linguistic skills, the child expands their possibilities for participation through words, sentences, and stories of experiences lived. Bruner (1983) highlighted the role of social interaction in language development, emphasizing how communicative skills emerge within shared contexts with adults and peers.

Educators support this journey through daily conversations, reading aloud, narrative activities, and moments of dialogue during routines. The adult’s language accompanies the child in understanding emotions, building thought, and the ability to express needs and intentions.

Verbal and non-verbal communication remain closely connected to the quality of relationships: through communicative exchange, the child experiences listening, reciprocity, and the possibility of feeling understood.

 

Play as a learning and relational experience

Play is one of the primary ways in which a child explores the environment, develops skills, and builds relationships. Through ludic activity, they experiment with roles, use creativity, communicate intentions, and participate in building shared experiences.

Piaget (1962) described play as a process through which the child organizes their experience and develops new ways of interpreting reality. Vygotsky (1978) highlighted the role of the social dimension in child development, emphasizing how new skills are acquired thanks to interaction with others.

Shared play offers a space in which to experience collaboration, language, imagination, and problem-solving skills. In daycare, children may initially share the same space while maintaining individual activities; subsequently, they develop increasingly reciprocal and coordinated forms of participation.
Parten (1932) studied the evolution of social play, describing the transition from forms of individual play toward modes characterized by increasing interaction with peers.

Symbolic play takes on a particularly significant value in emotional development, as it allows the child to represent lived experiences, process emotions, and experiment with different relational modes. Through fantasy, the child can understand different perspectives and develop creative abilities.
The ludic dimension also supports emotional regulation because during play the child encounters small difficulties, learns to wait, faces changes, and experiments with strategies to resolve situations with the adult’s support.

 

Emotional regulation and adaptation to the new environment

Emotional regulation develops through a gradual process in which the child learns to recognize, modulate, and express their emotions. In the first years of life, this ability arises primarily within relationships with adults, who help the child understand and organize emotional experiences.

Thompson (1994) defined emotional regulation as the set of processes through which emotional responses are monitored and modified in relation to environmental demands and individual goals.

During the period of transition to daycare, the child may experience different emotions, related to the novelty of the environment, the presence of new reference figures, and the temporary separation from the family. The presence of a responsive adult allows for these experiences to be accompanied, fostering the construction of personal adaptation strategies.

The educator’s ability to recognize the child’s emotional cues and to offer appropriate support contributes to the development of emotional security and autonomy. Through repeated experiences, stable relationships, and predictable routines, the child progressively acquires confidence in the daycare context and in the new relationships built there.

 

The role of the educator and the responsive educational relationship

The daycare educator accompanies the child on the journey of getting to know the new environment through an attentive, stable, and responsive presence. The educational relationship is built in daily life through listening, observation, emotional closeness, and the ability to recognize the child’s individual cues.

A responsive educational relationship allows the adult to adapt their intervention to the personal characteristics of each child, respecting their temperament, adaptation times, and the ways in which they express needs and emotions. The educator’s sensitivity fosters the building of a climate of trust, in which the child can explore the environment, participate in activities, and acquire new skills.

Ainsworth et al. (1978) highlighted how caregiver sensitivity toward child cues is closely associated with building a secure base. In the educational context, this principle translates into the educator’s ability to offer relational continuity and support during new experiences.
The stability of educational figures allows the child to build recognizable points of reference and acquire familiarity with daycare spaces and routines. At the same time, the predictability of daily activities facilitates the understanding of the context and fosters increasingly active participation.

The educator also supports relationships between children by promoting shared activities, group play experiences, and mediating the early social interactions. In this way, daycare becomes a space in which the child learns and grows through the relationship with adults and peers.

 

Separation anxiety and the process of transition to daycare

Separation anxiety is a frequent emotional manifestation in early childhood development and is closely linked to the maturation of the emotional bond with reference figures. Progressively, the child acquires the ability to understand that the loved person continues to exist even during a temporary absence.

Bowlby (1969) described seeking the proximity of the attachment figure as a behavior with a protective function, which emerges especially in situations perceived as new, uncertain, or potentially stressful.

The first manifestations of distress during separation can appear in the second half of the first year of life and become more evident between 12 and 24 months, a period in which awareness of the distance from the family figure increases and, at the same time, the desire to explore the environment grows (Bowlby, 1969).

Upon entry into daycare, the child may exhibit crying at parting, seeking proximity to the parent, a need for reassurance, or una greater observation of the surrounding environment. These are reactions that are part of the adaptation process and that generally tend to diminish with the progressive consolidation of familiarity with the spaces, educators, and routines.

Entry into daycare frequently occurs between 6 months and 3 years, a period characterized by important changes in the development of autonomy, communication, and social skills. There is no single transition method valid for all children, as the journey depends on the maturational age, temperamental characteristics, previous experiences, and the quality of the educational context.

In the first months of life, some children may need more gradual time to get to know the new environment and build familiarity with the educational figures. Between the first and second year, the greater awareness of separation may be accompanied by a more intense search for the family  figure, while the capacity for exploration progressively increases. Between two and three years, however, language development generally allows for a better understanding of routines and adult explanations, while the need for reassurance remains during moments of change.

The adjustment period can extend from a few days to several weeks, depending on the individual characteristics of the child and the organizational methods of the educational service. A gradual transition fosters familiarization with the spaces, educators, and peers through repeated and predictable experiences.
During this period, the child may alternate moments of curiosity, play, and participation with others in which they seek more proximity to the family figure. This alternation represents a natural component of the process through which they integrate the new experience, maintaining the emotional security built in previous relationships.

Even small daily rituals, such as a clear and consistent goodbye, reassuring communication, and the certainty of the parent’s return, foster a positive representation of temporary separation. The continuity of routines also contributes to progressively transforming the daycare into a familiar, predictable, and welcoming environment.