Although consistent nurturing relationships with significant adults are taken for granted by most of us as a necessity for babies and young children, this commonly held belief is not often put into practice. Pioneers, such as Erik Erikson, Anna Freud, and Dorothy Burlingham, revealed that to "pass successfully through the stages of early childhood, children require sensitive, nurturing care to build capacities for trust, empathy, and compassion." In this article, the authors describe nurturing emotional relationships as the most crucial primary foundation for both intellectual and social growth. Supportive, warm, nurturing emotional interactions with infants and young children help the central nervous system grow appropriately, and allow children to develop empathy, a sense of morality, self-regulation, and problem-solving and cognitive skills.