Findings Based on Episode Descriptions of Emotion Regulation by Nursery Teachers’ Inter-subjectivity

—How Do Infants Feel “Warabe-uta” and Express Joy?—

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to clarify how infants feel "warabe-uta" (nursery songs) and express joy by analyzing episode descriptions and acquiring knowledge regarding infant childcare practice. Infancy is an important time for forming relationships with caregivers through an appropriate behavior of caregivers for emotion regulation. "Warabe-uta" nursery songs are a part of infant childcare useful for the development of emotions. However, their relationship with emotion regulation is not clear. Therefore, I observed infants aged 0–3 years and created 163 episode descriptions throughout one year and analyzed the most heart-shaken episode descriptions of positive emotion regulation.

Consequently, I arrived at three suggestions for infants' childcare practice. First, nursery teachers should practice "warabe-uta" while being conscious of positive emotion regulation. Second, they should practice "warabe-uta" with the consciousness of its importance in infant development. Third, engaging in "warabe-uta" could increase nursery teachers' sensitivity to inter-subjectivity. I was able to determine that childcare practice incorporating "warabe-uta" encouraged the regulation of infants' pleasant emotions and could lead to infant's development based on relationships with nursery teachers.