Young children love to talk about, and hear about, when they were “little”. Here’s a series of activities I like to do with young ones to talk about how they’ve grown.
See How We've Grown!
Young children love to talk about, and hear about, when they were “little”. Here’s a series of activities I like to do with young ones to talk about how they’ve grown.
Positive Guidance: A Well-Stocked Toolbox
Imagine we’re all going into business together. You, me, and those other cyberfriends out there. We’re starting a fix-it shop and we’re about to open our doors. We will handle all kinds of problems: broken windows, leaky pipes, squeaky doors….You name it, we can fix it! We’re about to start fielding phone calls from frantic home owners with all kinds of problems, and we need to make sure everyone has their tools ready. So we all check out our toolboxes. In each toolbox is one, solitary hammer. It’s shiny and new, and handy in many different situations, but is it really enough to get us through every situation?
Pom-Pom Grab
My posts have been very wordy and heavy lately, so I thought I’d break it up a bit with an activity post. A while back I mentioned these fine motor activities, and I wanted to show one of my own adaptations here. I’m all about saving money, so instead of buying the cool ice cube tray, I used an empty Ferrero Rocher container I had on hand. You know, those delicious hazelnut chocolates. Their container is just the right size for medium sized pom-poms. Go ahead and buy yourself some. Do it for the children. If you’re morally opposed to self-indulgence, you could also use an egg carton, ice cube tray, or mini muffin tin. Just try to match the container as closely to your pom-pom size as possible.
Positive Guidance: Preventative Actions and Positive Reactions
As I mentioned before, we have to let go of the notion that we as adults need to control children’s behavior, and instead put the focus on helping them build their own self-control. There are some things we can control within each situation however. Among them, are the preventative actions we can take before a negative situation arises, as well as the positive reactions we can have to that behavior.
What’s Going On? Considering the Sources of Behavior
Some of you are reading that title and thinking, “Sources of behavior? That two year-old having a tantrum on the carpet – THAT’S the source of behavior!” Now, right from the start, I need to say that I am not implying that we absolve children of all responsibility for their choices. But at the same time, if we can be observant and consider what may be triggering those choices, we can know how to use that moment as a teaching opportunity and take preventative steps in the future as well.
For No Reason. Just as an example, I recently worked with a group of teachers and one expressed concern over a child who was aggressive and hitting “for no reason”. Now, it did appear to be for no reason, there was no provocation from the other children. But it’s difficult for me to accept “for no reason” as a behavioral description. It seems all you can do for “no reason” is let the child know the behavior is not appropriate and then give a generic, and often inappropriate punishment (like a “naughty chair”) that will have little corrective influence, as it was not tied in an authentic way to the source of the behavior. As I probed a bit into this particular situation the teachers realized that he usually acted out against one child in particular, and that child was what they called “an easy target”. Now this little tidbit differentiated the act for me.
What's Going On? Considering the Sources of Behavior
Some of you are reading that title and thinking, “Sources of behavior? That two year-old having a tantrum on the carpet – THAT’S the source of behavior!” Now, right from the start, I need to say that I am not implying that we absolve children of all responsibility for their choices. But at the same time, if we can be observant and consider what may be triggering those choices, we can know how to use that moment as a teaching opportunity and take preventative steps in the future as well.
For No Reason. Just as an example, I recently worked with a group of teachers and one expressed concern over a child who was aggressive and hitting “for no reason”. Now, it did appear to be for no reason, there was no provocation from the other children. But it’s difficult for me to accept “for no reason” as a behavioral description. It seems all you can do for “no reason” is let the child know the behavior is not appropriate and then give a generic, and often inappropriate punishment (like a “naughty chair”) that will have little corrective influence, as it was not tied in an authentic way to the source of the behavior. As I probed a bit into this particular situation the teachers realized that he usually acted out against one child in particular, and that child was what they called “an easy target”. Now this little tidbit differentiated the act for me.
What is Positive Guidance?
I have some bad news for some of you. There is no magical, easy, silver bullet approach to dealing with challenging childhood behaviors. If there was, there wouldn’t be shelves full of books on the topic in every book store and library. There would be one very short book and we would all have it memorized. There is no easy answer, but there is a series of attitudes and understandings and an assortment of tools and approaches, that we can choose from and use to address each individual challenging situation.
A Behavior Problem-Solving Approach: Positive Guidance for Preschoolers
Preschool children often confound us with their behavior. They’re playing and laughing one minute, and crying “for no reason” the next. We ask them not to poke their baby brother’s eyes, and they look right at us, with angelic faces, and do it anyway. What is going on? It can be a baffling, maddening process to try to answer that question! I’m going to be adding a series of posts, linked from here as well, in an effort to give you a few more tools for observing, understanding, and approaching child behaviors using the positive guidance philosophy and techniques. Here’s what you have to look forward to:
Shape Scoop
Kids love to scoop! It’s great for their hand-eye coordination and both large and small motor skills. Cut shapes from craft foam (or find pre-cut ones, non adhesive of course) and set them floating in your sensory table or bathtub. Give the kiddos fish nets to scoop with (you can find them very inexpensively in almost any pet store or pet supply aisle of a grocery store or Wal-Mart). As a bonus, when the foam is wet, it will stick to smooth surfaces, so your children can create pictures as well! Talk to them about the shapes and colors they’re using to increase their awareness of shape and color names and characteristics. (“Wow! You made that house by putting the red triangle on top of the yellow square!) Happy scooping!
For more Welcome Weeks activities, click here!
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