So what forms your daughter’s ability to trust?
You do, silly.
Before she learns the wrong way to have a relationship, the wrong way to treat people, she needs to see you provide a correct example.
And you do that by being a constant source of good in her life.
I mean, if she does not learn it from her parents, where is she going to get it?
Of course, grandparents can step in sometimes too.
The renowned psychologist Erik Erikson believed that a child’s ability to trust is directly related to her ability to trust her primary caregivers. If the first people she comes in contact with, most often mom and dad, are consistent —if they offer her stability and ongoing, reliable care, she will learn the concept of trust. She will believe the world is safe, based on the safety of her own home.
-Melissa Trevathan and Sissy Goff, Raising Girls
