Safety and Connection = Attachment

What is the best gift to give your child?  A sense of being protected and free from harm and a sense of being attended to.  You cannot go wrong when other agendas or needs are put aside for the sake of these important relational foundations.
Attachment theorists describe a well-adjusted child as one who is in relationship with the parent and can turn to him or her for "... safety and support"  (Hughes, p. 15).  This shows a child that it is ok to turn to the parent for safety and support.  He further explains that the child's experience of their parent greatly influences the experience they have of themselves.  In other words, how a child experiences his of her relationship with their primary caregiver makes big impacts on the way they perceive themselves.  This being said, it is important to pay attention to how one is doing as a person, as a parent, experiencing life, so one might enable a child to become the self they ideally can be!
Hughes, Daniel.  2009.  Attachment Focussed Parenting.  Norton:NY.