Mental Health and Early Childhood: Why We Must Care for Caregivers

Let’s imagine, for a moment, the following situation: it's 6 a.m., and a mother is already up. She barely slept last night: her son woke up crying several times, and she comforted him and stayed by his side. After preparing breakfast, she takes him to the neighborhood early childhood development center. There, an educator welcomes him while caring for a group of children that keeps growing beyond what she would like and can manage. Before leaving, she asks the caregiver to pay special attention to him: she is worried about his crying during the night. Then she takes the bus to work, with just enough money for the fare.

The day has barely begun, and she, like millions of mothers, fathers, and caregivers in Latin America and the Caribbean, has already made dozens of decisions. And even more is expected of her: to perform well at work, take care of the household, and, whenever her son needs something, be there to respond with patience, empathy, and affection. Much is expected of caregivers. Yet we rarely stop to ask what they need to sustain all that they do.

At the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), we are advancing a regional agenda to understand and integrate the mental health and emotional well-being of children and their caregivers into early childhood policies, programs, and systems. We start from a fundamental premise: the well-being of children and that of those who care for them, both at home and in early childhood development centers, are deeply connected.

In practice, this translates into initiatives that seek to support caregivers directly. In Haiti, for example, we are adapting Semillas de Apego, an initiative that uses group reflection sessions to provide mothers, fathers, and caregivers with tools to process their own experiences, strengthen their emotional well-being, and build secure bonds with their children.

Young children’s development depends on sensitive, responsive adults. Children learn to calm down when someone helps them find calm; they develop trust through a look, a voice, or a hug that comes at the right moment. These quality interactions are the building blocks of development and depend, to a large extent, on the emotional well-being of the caregiver.

Caregivers support children’s development with their bodies, their time, and their state of mind, often without help, without rest, and without anyone asking how they are doing. They frequently face demanding jobs, insufficient income, and fragile or nonexistent support networks at the same time. Navigating these circumstances is emotionally complex. A paradox emerges here: we expect these adults to have high-quality interactions with children, yet we often fail to create the conditions that enable caregivers to provide them.

That is why supporting caregivers’ mental health and emotional well-being is integral to early childhood development: it is a condition for improving the quality of care and, through it, promoting children’s development. When caregivers have tools and support to manage their emotions and stress, they also have greater emotional availability to look at, play with, and respond sensitively to a child.

First, it means recognizing that mothers, fathers, educators, and other caregivers also need support and that their well-being must be part of early childhood public policies.

Building on this, it means incorporating their well-being into service design. This includes creating regular opportunities to recognize and manage stress, strengthen support networks, and provide guidance and practical tools for everyday life.

For early childhood workers, it also means having reasonable workloads, training and guidance, and opportunities for supervision and emotional support that allow them to do their work without overload compromising the quality of their interactions with children. Stability and adequate working conditions are part of quality.

Finally, it means strengthening the community dimension of care. This involves expanding access to childcare services and strengthening the family, community, and institutional networks that support caregivers and help distribute these responsibilities more evenly.

On World Mental Health Day, we invite you to turn your attention to the adults who support children’s development every day across our region.

On November 17, we will continue this conversation at the event Weaving the Emotional Foundations of Children and Their Caregivers: A Conversation About Emotional Well-Being in Latin America and the Caribbean, where we will share evidence, experiences, and the next steps in the IDB’s agenda to advance early childhood policies that integrate mental health and emotional well-being. We will soon share the registration link so you can join us online.

To learn more about how the IDB supports early childhood development across Latin America and the Caribbean, visit our webpage.