Right from wrong…
Teaching a child right from wrong is one of the most controversial aspects of raising a child. Some parents choose to spank, yell or take away privileges, others turn a blind eye to there child’s behaviour. There is a lot of discourse about correcting behaviour in childcare centres to. Some opt to be direct and consistent addressing the issue swiftly with both child and parent as deemed necessary others, choose a more discrete approach. Each comes with pros and cons. Lets have a look.
When correcting behaviour what really matters is consistency both in when you react and how. If you pick up on a behaviour straight away one time and let it go the next, its just as bad as letting the behaviour go every single time. The child sees that your inconstant and will keep risking that behaviour. Same goes for when the ‘punishment’ is poorly established. If the ‘crime’ only fits the ‘time’ sometimes you’ll end up fighting the same battles more that you want or need to. If the child has developed the ability to have a conversation about it, ie, not that’s not a good idea and here’s why, then taking the 5 minutes to have that conversation will help ease consistently problematic behaviours. Allow your child to question you because in explaining your reasoning, your teaching logical thinking, social skills and problem solving. Hell sometimes the child has a better understanding of the problem and therefore a better solution than us adults do, in acknowledging that your rewarding positive behaviours.
Rewarding positive behaviour is important too. You can’t teach a child what not to do without giving them a acceptable alternative for the behaviours you don’t want. Think of it like your boss breathing down your neck because your unable to complete the task the way the boss what’s you to due to unclear instructions. By encouraging the behaviours that you want, your providing the clear expectations and teaching what is and isn’t acceptable. The reward doesn’t have to be much, but it has to be clear and consistent. A good option is the simple hi-five, its free, readily available and always with you. Better yet you can always bust it out the second the appropriate behaviour occurs.
Looking at childcare, there are two ways for educators to correct bad behaviour. There’s the ‘I’m sending you to the office to calm down’ where they get to play with the centre manager and/or 2IC for a bit. This has it’s advantages, for a start, it provides children with a safe place free from noise and other children to collect there emotions however it may also reward negative behaviours. Give children an inch and they’ll take a mile, if they don’t wish to do something, they may ‘act up’ to get out of it. The other way is to take privileges away from the whole group. Evidently, there has to be lines that you don’t cross, you can’t withhold essential needs like food, water, shelter and rest but you could take away the new toy or the birthday party. The issue here is that your now taking 1 or 2 kids choices out on up to 20 uninvolved children who didn’t do anything wrong. Does that punishment fit the crime? I don’t think so.
In childcare we also need to consider a number of things like what’s happening at home, changes within a household can lead to changes in behaviour too. There are a number of factors that could influence a child’s behaviour whilst in care. As an educator it can be really hard to control children when your co-workers don’t treat you with respect to. These can have a huge impact on a child's behaviour. So can how the centre chooses to talk about a child’s behaviour to a parent on pickup. Some managers will not allow staff to address the behaviours with parents directly for fear of being misunderstood or offensive. If you have concerns about how your child is behaving in care than ask for a clear cut answer in righting. If you don’t receive a response within a reasonable time, or the answer provided is unacceptable, chase it up in person and keep at it. At the end of the day this is your child and your call.
Last but not least activity of the week:
Moon sand, another taste safe option for sensory play. I like to tell the kids that I went to the moon and brought it back for them. Set up on either natural grass or hard flooring for hours of fun.
1 part cooking oil
16 parts plain flour
Rub flour into oil a third at a time until you get a soft crumbly texture that will clump together but not hold and isn’t sticky. Use a powered colure if you wish to colure it as water based food die will not work with the oil. Set up with balls of tin foil for space themed fun.