Inquiry 2
| Site: | MoodleHUB.ca 🍁 |
| Course: | Early Learning and Child Care 30 Modules |
| Book: | Inquiry 2 |
| Printed by: | Guest user |
| Date: | Thursday, 18 September 2025, 3:25 PM |
Description
Created by IMSreader
1. Inquiry 2
Session 4: Guiding Children’s Behaviour
© 2009 Jupiterimages Corporation
Inquiry 2: Setting Clear Guidelines
Children do not do well when there are too many rules. However, a few important guidelines that children can be reminded of helps prevent behaviours of concern. Child care providers should thoughtfully consider the guidelines in their child care facility.
Guidelines should encourage children to respect and care about themselves, others, equipment, and materials. This caring prevents children from hurting themselves, hurting others, or damaging property. Guidelines or rules are often about setting limits. Child care providers should set clear limits, but only those limits that are necessary.
The following questions will help you understand setting limits that are appropriate:
Are limits clear? Is the real reason for the rule stated? Do the children understand the purpose of the guideline?
Are limits appropriate? Do the limits show understanding of children’s needs and abilities?
Are the limits truly necessary? Too many rules are confusing and easily forgotten. Some adults have only one basic rule: You may not hurt yourself, others, or things. Hurt can be explained as either physical hurt or hurt feelings.
Have the children helped make the rules? Wherever possible, involve children in the decision about whether an activity or behaviour is within the guidelines. For example, asking a four-year-old child whether he thought that throwing a block might hurt someone will help the child develop problem-solving skills and understand why blocks cannot be thrown.
Miller, Cheri Sterman. “Building Self-Control: Discipline for Young Children.” Young Children. Washington: National Association for the Education of Young Children, November 1984. 15–18. Adapted and reproduced with permission.
Guidelines should help children respect and care about themselves, others, equipment, and materials. A guideline that does none of these is perhaps not necessary or needs to be refined. Unnecessary guidelines frustrate them. Frustrated children often act in inappropriate ways.
Intervention Using Redirection
Redirection—An Example
A small group of four-year-old children have been playing all morning in the block corner with the large plastic animals, people figurines, and blocks. What fun they have had with their zoo!
Suddenly, you hear loud giggles and voices getting louder. Mario, jumping up and down, screams, “The lion is loose, the lion is loose. Help! Help!” The children throw the animals in the air, hollering, “Help, save me! Help! Help!” Kara runs from the block corner, yelling “Grr, grr. I’m the lion, grr, grr! I’m going to take you to my cave and eat you.”
Noticing the loud voices, children running and jumping up and down, and toys being thrown into the air, the child care provider moves closer to the children and says, “I am the zoo-keeper. I need to get some food for the lion. Who will go on a lion hunt with me?” The child care provider then leads the children in singing the song “Going on a Lion Hunt.”
Does this sound like fun? Use the Internet to learn the words and tune of “Going on a Lion Hunt.” Teach the song and actions to the children at the child care facility.
There are times when child care providers need to intervene; for example, to help children respect and care about themselves, others, equipment, and materials. Redirecting children’s play is one appropriate intervention strategy. If you have to use redirection techniques very often, then it is a sign that you need to focus more on preventative techniques, such as room arrangement, variety of activities, engaging in children’s play, and so on.
Child care providers are being proactive when they intervene. Child care providers watch closely and continuously for clues that might tell them problems could occur. Watch for the following clues:
- children running around indoors
- objects being thrown in the air
- too many children in one area
- the combination of children playing together
- aggressive fantasy play, such as children’s superhero play with hitting and kicking
- a child about to hurt someone or break something
- increasing noise
To intervene using redirection, move close to the child or children, crouch down to a child’s level, and either ask a question or make a comment in order to change the direction of the play. In this way, you are not stopping or dominating the children’s play.
Intervention Using Problem Solving
If trying to redirect children’s play has not worked and/or the behaviours of concern are serious, child care providers need to respond to the situation by stopping the children from engaging in the behaviour. If necessary, and after ensuring everyone’s safety, the provider may engage the children in problem solving. Problem solving is another important strategy of intervention.
What creates a conflict between children? Conflict sometimes arises when the needs, wants, or feelings of one child are not being considered by others involved. Consider the following examples:
- Vincent hits Guillaume because Guillaume called Vincent a dummy.
- Cheyenne pushes Kerry off the tricycle.
- When Sammy is singing a song to herself, Kun says, “You have a yucky voice!”
- Dominic is not included in the house play because “there is no room.”
Child care providers can encourage children to problem solve—to find alternatives or acceptable solutions to a situation. Consider the following steps for engaging children in problem solving.
Step 1: The child care provider brings together the children who are involved.
Step 2: The child care provider gets down to the children’s level, for example, sitting with them on the floor.
Step 3: The child care provider actively listens to all the children. This means both being attentive to the children’s feelings as well as hearing the words the children say.
Step 4: As the children share their thoughts and feelings, the child care provider asks timely questions that support the children to define the problem and to think about solutions to the problem. For example, the provider might ask, “Jonah, what happened next when Tamera took the doll you were playing with?” and “What can you do when you both want the same toy?”
Step 5: The child care provider remains calm and patient. It takes time for children to find solutions.
Step 6: If the children do not offer any solutions, the child care provider suggests some alternatives as a way of encouraging the children to engage in problem solving.
Step 7: The child care provider mediates the conversation without dominating or controlling the conversation.
Step 8: The children and the child care provider decide on a solution to try.
Children and adults have to learn communication skills to be able to express their needs, wants, and feelings; and to be able to hear other points of view. Child care providers can help children gain these skills by knowing and encouraging the steps of problem solving.
The following positive results emerge when children are actively involved in solving their own problems:
- Children develop independence and responsibility.
- Children become more sensitive and aware of others and their needs, wants, and feelings.
- Children are more likely to comply with the solution.
- Children become more confident problem solvers.
The child care provider helps children gain these skills by knowing and encouraging the steps of problem solving. These are:
Step 1: Bring attention to the fact that there is a problem that needs to be solved.
Step 2: Define the problem; help the children express their needs, wants, and/or feelings.
Step 3: Help each child contribute to the possible solutions.
Step 4: Decide on a solution to try.
1.1. Learning Activity 2
Session 4: Guiding Children’s Behaviour
Learning Activity 2: Processing Information Through Discussion
Focus
Discussing information with others helps to process the information and connect it with prior knowledge.
Directions
With a partner, discuss why each of the steps for intervening by engaging in problem solving in Inquiry 2 is necessary. In your discussion, consider the long-term benefits children may gain from having child care providers who engage the children in problem solving.
You may choose to make notes or some other record of your discussion.