Learner Daniel
LearnerForum Replies Created
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Children may not have awareness of what emotion they are feeling or how it is affecting their behavior. Sharing your observation of their behavior or demeanor and your inference about what it may mean/what feeling it may be coming from can help them come to recognize their own emotions more effectively.
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It’s important to be able to speak openly with a coworker or peer who knows you and knows something about the nature of the work. Stress and burnout build much more when a caregiver feels alone and unable to share their experience.
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The ability of a caregiver to help a child manage stress depends on a history of responsive and safe interactions between caregiver and child. When a stressful event occurs, or a child is dysregulated, the caregiver can step in as a trusted adult who can share some of the weight of the issue.
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When possible, taking a short break can be very helpful. Speaking about a stressor to another teacher or a supervisor can be a relief rather than keeping it bottled up.
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Connections with children come naturally through daily conversation and interaction where the provider shows interest, care, and attention to the children they work with, and responds to their needs.
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A two month old should only use CPSC-approved cribs/bassinets with no loose bedding.
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Physical activity can be encouraged with somewhat challenging, organized games led and facilitated by adults that get children excited to be active together.
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You might be able to make healthy habits fun by getting deeper into the reasoning behind them, telling stories about the cause and effect of e.g. hand washing. This might satisfy children’s curiosity.
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I might highlight the process for washing and sanitizing dishes. In my program, children begin the process of washing their own dishes, but this is finished by staff who clean any remaining food from dishes and then process them in an industrial sanitizer.
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I might feel worried about the repurcussions of my action (having heard narratives that cast doubt on the effectiveness of CPS/removing children from their families), but as a mandated reporter faced with potential evidence of abuse, I would be forced to swallow my doubts and make a report.
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My biggest worry is preventing accidental injury. I hope to learn more about recognizing and managing possible concussions.
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Relationships are built through frequent conversation about a family’s child and the events of the day, the provider’s observations, etc. Providers should strive for honest discussion and vulnerability rather than overconfidence–providers have expertise in child development generally but families are experts in their own children. Conversation can bring these two domains of expertise together in a positive, creative way.
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As the parent of a young child, I’d want accountability from my child’s provider, regular detailed communication about goings on at the learning center or school and my child’s experiences and behavior, and to be able to feel confident that my child is safe throughout the day.I’d fear that my child might not be listened to or understood, mistreated by others in the school environment, or given individualized focus by staff.
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One way could be to use a “serve and return” approach with questions regarding the environment. I recall having an extended conversation about beavers with a 6 year old student at an outdoor program. She wondered if beavers lived in the area of the forest we were in, and instead of of simply saying I didn’t know or I didn’t think so, I answered with questions about what she thought and why, which got a few children and myself talking about what kinds of habitat beavers might need and what kinds of effects they had on the environment around them, which extended to a discussion of other animals. I was able to share what I knew about animals in the environment to the extent that I could answer questions, and we generated a lot of new questions to explore as we organized our knowledge and understandings about the forest.
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A daily schedule should be well understood by all staff. When staff are confident and consistent in the movement from one activity to the next, children will be able to learn the sequence of daily activities as well through daily practice.
