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Art of Redirection
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I work with toddlers and one of my kiddos does not take no for an answer. When he asks a friend to play and is told no repeatedly he resorts to screaming and hitting them. So when I hear him asking and being told no I ask him if he wants to build with me and show me how tall of a tower he can make to intrigue him to challenge himself instead of challenge the patience of the friend that wanted space.
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one day last week at work i was in a room with a kids and notice a boy was crying because he want his mommy. I got down his level and said your mom will be back at the end of the day. I gave him a hug and told him he going to be ok and redirect him to a friend in the class and that friend ask him would like to play with me at the kitchen station he said yes . then he stopped crying, started to happy because he had a friend that was happy and they smiled while they played at the kitchen station cooking soup and veggies
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I have a child in my class who struggles with getting up from nap and will cry and scream sometimes when they have to get off of their nap mat. I started redirecting their attention to activities that the class may be starting by bringing over a part of the activity they could see. Sometimes they may turn their head away from it and pretend to be asleep in which case I would do something funny to make them smile while pointing out that I know they are not asleep because I can see their smile. then hurry them along to get prepared for the activity in a playful manner.
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I have a 5-year-old boy in one of my classes who has big emotions and is in a wrestling class. When he gets upset he immediately goes into yelling mode and starts to get physical with other students. One day one of the other kids took a tractor from him and he immediately yelled and shoved the other kid. I redirected him by telling him that it is okay to be upset and to have big emotions but it is not okay to hurt another friend. Afterwards we went over options we can do together when he is upset and reminded him that wrestling practice stays at wrestling not at school. This helped him to calm down and that it is oka to be upset and that there are other things we can do together when he is upset.
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As a toddler teacher, using redirection is a common tool to help students and defuse arguments. This helps to teach effective behavior management as everyone needs a moment and something different when something is frustrating. I also employ creative methods, such as storytelling, role-playing, games, and visual aids.
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One of my student was very attracted to one of her classmate and if that child went before her she would start crying and whining. So I asked her who else she likes to play and talked to her that till she meets her friend again the other child will help her and will play with her it took a day or two but she started to accept the other child as her friend and if her best friend didn’t come or left early she didn’t get upset 😢
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A time when using redirection helped avoid behavioral issues with young children was when 4 children wanted to play up in the tree house but there is only a limit of 2 children. I let the children up in the tree house know that some other friends wanted to play up there so I was going to set a timer for 5 minutes so that they could take turns. I also let the children waiting know that in 5 minutes it would be their turn. This avoided all the drama of not being safe with 4 children up there as well as the yelling of “you’re not letting me have a turn!”A creative method I have for teaching effective communication, taking into account that the idea of sharing is still developing in these young children is to always have a 3 or 5 minute timer on me. I’ve noticed that a lot of my children are visual learners so for them to SEE what 3 or 5 minutes look like, then waiting doesn’t seem so bad. “When this timer is done, your turn will be over and someone else with be playing with the car.”
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Page not found – Early Childhood Education Community
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I have a student who hits other kids often. I have started noticing warning signs when he is getting ready to hit and when I see them I send him over to the wall. On the wall we have a red mat and I tell him to hit the mat. It gives him the physical outlet he needs without harming others. In terms of communication I try to help my students find words to deal with challenges. We have been doing a lot of role playing which my students love! We create a scene and then freeze and come up with words to problem solve. I’ve been really impressed with my students, at first we would have to find the solutions for them but in the last few weeks they have begun to volunteer ideas and have even come up with some new ones.
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I teach at an outdoor school, and recently a girl kept discussing how bored she was without her friend, who was at home sick. She wanted to go home, too. I asked her who she missed the most, and she said her mom. I then asked her if she could help me make a surprise card for her mom to give to her at pick up. We ended up having a great time with her and the other kids, making surprise envelopes with little gifts inside. She had forgotten all about how lonely she was feeling and bonded with the other children.
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When my preschoolers we getting lined up to go outside they started running around bumping into each other and getting upset so I started singing “put your finger in the air” then they all stopped moving and at the end of the song I asked them to line up calmly so we can walk outside. I do this or sing ” if youre happy and you know it” several times throughout the month on the more busy days.
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One day, I directed the attention of two children in my classroom who were arguing about who should speak first during a group discussion. I used a playful example involving my assistant and me, showing them that we were having the same disagreement. Once the children understood our problem they just smiled and tried to resolve their issue on their own.
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We have a biter in the room. One of his main triggers is when his friends like to take his toys that he is playing with. One of the ways that I have found that helps avoid that situation is when I see a child going after his toy, I will redirect them to the other toys. Then I will ask them what does this do? Can we find something else to add onto this toy to make it cooler? I think that redirection in children helps to keep them safe and also their friends safe.
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I have a child who cries at drop off everyday. Yesterday I had a job waiting for them when they arrived. As he was starting to tear up I said. I have a very important job for you today, can you help me out? Hearing that he was an important person to our classroom helped to stop the tears before they started.
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I had two brothers that were working on a puzzle and they both can get worked up really easily. I started hearing them bicker with each other and I walked over and asked what was going on. The younger brother said that the older one was trying to take a specific puzzle piece from him. I asked him if he was wanting help with the puzzle (the younger brother was the one who initially started the puzzle) in which he shook his head yes. And so I suggested that he tell his brother ” no thank you, I was going to do that piece” and then suggested that one of them work on the border of the puzzle why the other one tries to fit together the middle. Seem to work out I didn’t hear any more arguing about the puzzle after that.
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Great job, Nikki! Your approach to redirecting the situation was effective, encouraging communication and cooperation. It’s wonderful to see how you guided the brothers to share responsibilities while fostering problem-solving skills.
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I have a child who likes to take random toys from her friends, i took a moment and explained how that can make them sad. she has since gotten so much better at asking before taking them.
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Great job, Tahlia! Your approach to using redirection by explaining the emotional impact of her actions was effective. Encouraging her to ask first fosters communication and sharing skills beautifully!
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