Infants are developing their first sense of self through contact with others. For this reason it is particularly important that caregivers be carefully selected, and well trained. Home culture is an important part of a child's developing identity. Much of the child's first two years of life are spent creating a first 'sense of self' or building a first identity. Because this is such a crucial part of children's make up, how they first see themselves, early care must, in addition to carefully selecting and training caregivers, ensure that links with family, home culture, and home language are a central part of program policy.
Infants are active, self-motivated learners.
Each infant is born curious and motivated to learn, and actively participates in learning each day. Caregivers need specific training in infant learning to understand how to read and respond to infant behavior and to delight in the types of learning in which infants are engaged. They also need training in how to construct environments and activities that keep motivation, experimentation, and curiosity alive as well as how to facilitate the infant learning process. Infants are individuals with differing temperaments. All children come into the world temperamentally different from one another.