Why Love Matters

Outline

Why Love Matters (2004) explains how the love and care babies receive shapes the development of their brains. Sue Gerhardt shows how early relationships influence the way children learn to manage stress and emotions, and how this can affect health and well-being later in life. The book highlights the importance of responsive, affectionate care in the first years and what families and society can do to support it.

• The love and care a baby receives shapes how that baby's brain develops.
• Early relationships influence how children learn to manage stress and handle their emotions.
• How a child is cared for in the first years can affect health and well-being later in life.
• Responsive, affectionate care in the early years matters, and families can provide it day to day.
• Society as well as families has a part in supporting loving early care.

Sue Gerhardt is a British psychotherapist and author who specialises in the emotional development of babies and young children. She co-founded a charity that supports parents and infants in Oxford. Her books include Why Love Matters and The Selfish Society.