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REFLECTION & PRACTICE

Love Builds Brains

What happens in a baby’s brain when a loving adult responds? Everyday moments of attention and care help build connections in the developing brain. 

Dr. Jean Clinton explores how loving, responsive relationships help shape a baby’s developing brain.  

A Child Grows in Relationship 

During the early years, the brain is growing rapidly and forming new connections through experience. When a baby coos, gestures, or cries and someone answers, the brain responds. As these exchanges happen again and again, pathways supporting communication and connection grow stronger. This is part of what Dr. Clinton means when she says that love builds brains.  

Brain science offers one way of understanding these moments. In many Indigenous communities, babies are also understood as sacred beings connected to spirit, family, community, culture, and the Land. The brain is part of the child, but not the whole child. Mind, body, heart, and spirit grow together through relationship.   

Early experiences matter, but early patterns are not fixed. New experiences of safety, attention, and care can continue to shape how a child grows. 

Try it in Your Practice

Invite caregivers to follow the baby’s lead: 

  • Answer a sound. 
  • Copy an expression. 
  • Sing a familiar song and notice the baby’s response. 
  • Pause and see what happens next. 

Ask what brings the baby delight and how they ask for closeness, quiet or play. These moments can help caregivers recognize the many ways they and their baby are already communicating. 

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2026 © The Martin Family Initiative. All rights reserved.

The Training & Resources for Early Education & Schools (TREES) Network is a space for delivering and accessing culturally appropriate training, professional development, resources, communities of practice and mentorship opportunities for Indigenous and non-Indigenous early learning professionals working with Indigenous children and families.

By coming together across communities, organizations and cultures, we can impact the bigger picture of Indigenous early education, child assessment and policy in Canada, so that Indigenous children will grow up proud of their culture and knowing that they belong.

The vision of the TREES Network is for early learning professionals to feel supported through training, resources and connections with others. The TREES Network strives to support early learning professionals to ground Indigenous children in their culture, nurturing stronger communities.

ACCESS TRAINING

The TREES Network supports access to culturally appropriate training and professional development for early learning professionals through the Understanding the Early Years course and Early Years Toolbox workshops. View upcoming trainings and workshops for your community through the Events Calendar.

EXPLORE RESOURCES

The TREES Network supports access to the Early Years Toolbox website, as well as access to accompanying resources through the Early Learning Library. Your access to resources is determined by your organization or community affiliation. Explore the Featured Partners page to view resources created by and in collaboration with Early Years partners.

CONNECT WITH OTHERS

To promote relationship-building and relational learning, the TREES Network provides opportunities for early learning professionals to build connections across the country. You can check out the Events Calendar to find events related to the early years, view the Interactive Map of early years services in different regions, or learn more about Supportive Circles as spaces to come together with others locally or across communities to share thoughts, ideas and support.

CREATE IMPACT

The TREES Network strives to create spaces through which we can collectively impact the bigger picture of Indigenous early learning in Canada. Learn about how Early Years sites are doing this through Early Years approach innovations, and about the important work many other organizations are doing to influence policy, curriculum, access to funding supports and program evaluation.

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