When you develop and use your program’s positive behavioral practices, you will be ready to provide a supportive and nurturing environment where children are emotionally safe to try new things, make mistakes and learn to express themselves. By creating an environment with routines, known expectations and engaging activities, children will learn to make good choices, especially with their behavior. Below are a few helpful ideas.
- Have a consistent daily schedule.
- Discuss and establish rules with appropriate consequences.
- Develop a nurturing relationship with children and their families.
- Have fun! Show children that you enjoy being in their company.
Giving Choices
Offering children choices can be a proactive behavioral support strategy to promote and support positive behaviors. Giving children choices provides a safe environment for them to develop decision-making skills, responsibility and positive self-esteem. As the caregiver, you create the appropriate options for the children to choose, allowing them to feel more in control, which teaches them how to make positive choices in the future. Below are key points to remember when providing options for children and examples of choices in their daily routines.
- Limit the choices you give to two options.
- Keep the choices clear and simple.
- Present the options in a positive way.
For example:
- “It’s snack time. Would you like water or milk?”
- “You may sit on the rug or in a chair.”
- “We already have three children playing at the sand table. Would you like to play with blocks or trucks while you wait?”
Redirection
Redirection is a positive behavioral support technique where the adult changes the child’s focus or direction from a negative behavior or experience to a positive one. It helps to stop undesired behaviors from escalating. Below are four redirection strategies to use in response to children’s behaviors to promote more positive ones.
Verbal Redirection: The child care provider uses words to change a child’s focus to the more desired behavior.
For example:
- “Running inside isn’t safe. Let’s tiptoe and see how quietly we can walk.”
- “Instead of yelling, we’re going to whisper.”
- “Let’s give someone else a turn with the truck and we can play with the puzzle.”
Verbal Redirection with a Cue: The child care provider uses a visual or auditory cue to gain a child’s attention to change their behavior.
For example:
- “When I turn off the lights, I need everyone to freeze.”
- “When you see my two fingers like this, look at me.”
- When seeing a toddler move away from the group, play an instrument and invite the child to play a song with you.
- The caregiver could also point to a visual schedule with pictures to show tasks for the children to complete.
Attention Redirection: The child’s attention is directed toward a positive example of what should happen in their space.
For example:
- “I really like how Joey is playing quietly with the blocks.”
- “Katie is doing a really nice job of being careful with the scissors.”
- “I like how some friends are cleaning up their snack area.”
Physical Redirection: The child care provider uses physical touch or movement to interrupt the negative behavior and move them toward the positive behavior. In the examples below, the caregiver could physically hold the child’s hand and lead them to a new activity or offer a gentle touch to help gain the child’s attention.
For example:
- “Let’s take a walk before we sit back on the carpet.”
- “Let’s go outside to climb on the playground rather than trying to climb in the classroom.”
- “Come with me and let’s find a different puzzle to do.”
- “Why don’t we sit in this chair with more space rather than your friend’s chair?”
Redirection and choices help children feel they have control within their learning environment. By helping children gain control of their emotions and actions, they can have a successful learning experience and acquire important skills that will last a lifetime.