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. Because of these differences, caregivers need to individualize and adapt care to each child. Adults exhibit strong emotions when charged with the care of infants. Parents and caregivers of infants and toddlers often experience a heightened sense of emotionality when they care for infants and toddlers. Developing strategies for dealing with conflicts that can emerge between parents and caregivers must be considered part of the caregiver's role.