SPC Blog: What You Need to Know

Does Shared Parenting affect early childhood development?

A renowned Cambridge University Professor, Dr. Michael Lamb, says that young children benefit by forming attachment to both parents, and other caring involved adults as well. Speaking at the International Conference on Shared Parenting 2017 in Boston Prof. Lamb said that a child’s attachments to caring adults develop in the first 7-8 months. He spoke on Tuesday, May 30. Prof. Lamb is widely credited with developing the science of early childhood attachment formation.

He said that young children who spend time, including overnights, with one caring attachment figure are not harmed by the separation from another parent.

Prof. Lamb summarized five studies of attachment formation in cases where parents live apart. He parsed the studies according to the selection of their sample and the validity of their outcome measurements. Giving greater weight to studies with better samples and stronger methods, he concluded that a child’s attachment to more than one adult produces better outcomes. He pointed out that this likely follows from the emotional support one parent can give the child when the other parent is experiencing difficulties. He called for more research on causal factors.

Bottom line: overnights with each parent in different homes help young children form strong attachments.

Recent Posts

Co-parenting Tips

  How do you effectively parent children after divorce or separation? In this video professionals talk. They know about emotional, legal, and practical issues related to co-parenting, parallel parenting and parenting of all sorts. We have studied the evidence on...

read more

Children Suffer In A Connecticut High Conflict Divorces

In December 2023, the Connecticut Supreme Court heard the case of R.H. v M.H., SC 20882. The parents had filed hundreds of motions in their battle, all apparently justified by the “best interests” standard. The details are dwarfed by over four years of litigation. How...

read more

Do Connecticut courts encourage shared parenting?

Cindy Cartier, a lawyer who does divorce mediation, writes “In recent weeks, my phone has been ringing off the hook with folks interested in mediation over litigating their family law issues.  Upon inquiry, many of them are hearing of court cases where the Judges are...

read more

Shared Parenting Reduces Child Abuse And Neglect

Shared parenting reduces child abuse and neglect. Why? Abusers are identified up-front and denied shared parenting when courts are doing their job. Guardrails include protective orders, ex parte orders, child protective services, domestic violence (DV) counseling for...

read more