Managing Difficult Behavior At Day Care

A child can be taught the necessary skills to develop their social and behavioral milestones in a healthy safe preschool environment. Taking turns, politeness, sharing and making choices are the ordinary preschool activities that offer opportunities for the development of these milestones.

Developing self-discipline in preschoolers can be achieved by:
• Instead of praising the child, praise the behavio
• A child’s self esteem should be nurtured and encouragedn • Take into account a child’s age and stage of development when setting limitsn • Help children to learn and understand boundaries by using play and games with rulesn • Children will imitate adult behavior so lead by examplen • Do not isolate or humiliate a childn • When you say ‘No’…mean it. Consistency is key.
• Make sure your expectations and rules of behavior are clea
• Always reward good behavior

Self-direction, self-control, cooperation and self-esteem will be encouraged should day care workers use these positive methods of discipline. On the other hand, using the following as a means of correction is never acceptable:
• Any physical restraint, biting, hitting or shakingn • Never humiliate, threaten or isolate a child- such emotional punishment is unacceptablen • Never deprive a child of food
Unacceptable behaviors i.e. bullying and temper tantrums should be dealt with using a range of strategies. Methods which have proven successful include:
• Remove the child from the situation or distraction techniquesn • Telling the child why the behavior will not be toleratedn • Offering the child an opportunity to regain control and become calm

The range of approaches mentioned would apply when dealing with the unpleasant behavior that is ‘biting’ – this being deemed pretty difficult behavior also. Children who display challenging behavior should have, with the involvement of parents and carers, a work plan developed specifically for them. When appropriate, parents should be involved, informed and supported to follow these work plans at home. Sometimes it is necessary to seek additional support in the form of outside specialists. This is not a negative thing and should be supported by parents and provider and a positive way forward.

A specific child care worker should, over a set period of time, be supported to work on a one to one basis with a child displaying aggressive or challenging behavior. The aim being that the carer would attempt to extend the child’s interests by specifically engaging them in activities thus avoiding the difficult behaviors. Calm, constructive, consistent actions are essentially the most effective method of counteracting challenging behaviors. Remembering this, cooperating with parents and seeing work plans through will result in success.