ABSTRACT
Sharing acknowledging intimacy quite simply means that we are able to feel more authentically ourselves in an unambiguous way, and that we are able to be more aware of what goes on in the minds and souls of other people. A child developing normally with a secure attachment pattern needs parents as a necessary “scaffolding function”. The child will become less and less dependent on this function as he or she becomes better at regulating emotions and controlling spontaneous impulses. Children have two central capacities, which can be developed in the best possible way through the experience of acknowledging intimacy with parents and other significant adults. These two capacities are: the ability to regulate emotions and the ability to handle strain and stress. As with many other aspects of life, our ability to create acknowledging intimacy improves the more we practise. The relationship between mother and infant is a biological entity that involves a kind of “substance dependence”.
