Final answer:
Quality infant and toddler care entails settings that ensure safety, health, and learning, emphasizing secure attachment and responsive parenting. Such environments support key developmental milestones and encourage autonomy and independence in toddlers for positive psychosocial growth.
Step-by-step explanation:
The CDA assessment process emphasizes that quality settings for infant and toddler care should ensure safety and foster health and learning. Settings that enable children to explore securely and with autonomy, such as having a secure attachment with caregivers, are essential. This attachment provides them with a safe base from which they can confidently engage with their surroundings. Quality care environments support the developmental milestones critical in the first years of life, catering to the physical, cognitive, and psychosocial growth of the child.
Effective parenting styles directly influence a child's ability to develop trust and see the world as a stable place. Conversely, unresponsive caregiving can cause anxiety and mistrust. Besides responsiveness, incorporating regular physical exercise habits for caregivers and children is important for maintaining good health and development.
Development continues in toddlers as they assert their independence, demonstrating clear preferences and starting to control their actions. The environment should allow for this expression of autonomy to encourage their sense of independence and self-esteem, and to avoid potential feelings of shame and doubt.