Competence: A child who is emotionally stable is self-motivated, can stick to a task, is capable of understanding others and can build trusting relationships, can cope with stress and is able to manage strong feelings. Scientists and child development experts know that positive interactions with parents and other caregivers lay the ground work for strong psychological and neurological development that babies need in order to develop emotional competence. A baby's early care will affect how he or she develops, learns, copes with, and handles emotion.