Behavior Managment
Children of all ages look to adults for guidance. As professionals, we strive to provide school-age children with an environment that encourages exploration, interaction, decision-making and fosters self control. When adult guidance is needed, it is important to understand individual needs and behaviors of children at various stages. This is also true with discipline. The goal of discipline is not to influence behavior through fear of punishment, but to support the development of self-control and problem-solving skills.
There are several ways to guide children and help them learn self-discipline.
Provide an environment that encourages children's self- discipline
• Arrange materials and furniture to encourage appropriate behavior
• Involve children in making the program's rules
• Provide many opportunities for children to choose their activities
• Plan games and activities that encourage cooperation
Use Positive Methods to Guide Individual Children
• Help children learn from their experiences
• Redirect children to acceptable activities
• Offer assistance to children who are out of control
• Use simple, positive reminders to state and restate rules
Help Children Understand and Express Their Feelings in Acceptable Ways
• Encourage children to talk about their feelings
• Tell children you accept their feelings, but their actions are not acceptable
• Provide creative outlets for expressing feelings
• Teach children conflict resolution techniques
A well-planned environment and curriculum that meet the needs of the children is a key to minimizing discipline problems. When teachers model, nurture, provide appropriate choices and set reasonable expectations, disciplinary problems are reduced. However, there are times when staff need to guide children's behaviors. Some positive guidance approaches are:
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