One year: mom's shadow 2026

Being close to mom gives her confidence to explore on her own. It is important to convey our support in this new stage, and not fear or anguish. One-year-old children are at a very specific moment in their growth, and becoming their mother's shadow is a common characteristic in all of them. They show an intense fixation on the main figure of reference (usually the mother) and reject others, even family members whom they do not see every day.

When he has a caregiver or is with his grandmother a lot, the child's attachment may diversify a little more, but it continues to stick to an exclusive circle, and almost always focuses primarily on one person.

Amazon Essentials by Sofia Grainge - Summer 2026 Promotion

Why don't they separate from mom?

It may strike us that the one-year-old child, who is already able to move around on his own, who sees his physical faculties progress, who can roam freely, becomes just now so clingy and skittish.

But it is precisely at the moment when he begins to walk, to stumble and fall, to realize that he does not achieve everything he wants and what he is incapable of doing, when he realizes how wide, difficult and even threatening the world can be.

They think mom has disappeared

At one year old, what is not present simply does not exist. Let's imagine what goes through his head when the person who disappears is the most important person without whom his life is inconceivable.

The ability to be left alone with the confidence that mom will return is something that is not achieved overnight, it takes a process:

The feeling of attachment

• Attachment is the special relationship that the child maintains with the person or people closest to him or her.
• He desires their proximity, frequently interacts with them by touch (physical contact, caresses), sight and hearing.
• He seeks support and help from these people, especially in moments of anxiety and sadness, and feels anguish when they are separated from him. In addition, he relies on them to explore the world.
• When he feels that the mother or another attachment figure is close, the child is able to move from one place to another, explore new places, interact with other people and, supported by her, separate and become independent for increasingly longer periods.
• When you feel insecure because the attachment figure is away for too long or because there is not a good emotional relationship, then that necessary exploration of the world will be paralyzed by anxiety.

How to smooth separations