Building Positive Relationships with Children

Jodi Allan

Unit 3: Building Positive Relationships

Task 1)

All children deserve the best start in life, to be provided with endless support which will enable them to fulfill their potential and make the most of their individual talents and abilities as they continue to grow. Between birth to five years, children develop very quickly and their experiences through this time will have a major impact on their future. Enabling a happy, safe and secure childhood along with good parenting and high quality learning, all children will have the start they need for a successful future. The Childcare Act 2006 was introduced as a key piece of legislation and is the first ever Act to be exclusively for early years and childcare (which spans from birth to the 31^st August that falls after the child’s 5^th birthday). This means that all pre-school childcare providers, including reception classes in primary schools, are all governed by this Act. The legal requirements for any of those operating within the child care setting are in the Ofsted publication, ‘Statutory Framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage’ which sets out the learning and development requirements, welfare requirements, all legal requirements as well as the legal adult to children ratios. The law requires specific duties to be carried out by various authorities, including:

• Providing an information service for parents;
• Providing training and advice for providers of child care;
• Providing working parents with child care as required;
• Achieving a reduction in equalities in children ages 0-5 through close work with Job Centre Plus, associated partners and the NHS;
• Providing positive outcomes for any child at risk of poverty;
• Bridging the inequalities that may exist between children, with particular reference to deprivation.

Learning and Development Requirements must be provided by the child care provider and all staff operating under any child care provision and any diversity of children within that provision. All resources are available to providers to ensure everyone required to is able to meet the outcomes, no exceptions.

“The Childcare Act 2006 provides for the Early Years Foundation Stage learning and development requirements to include these 3 elements:

• The early learning goals-the required knowledge, skills and understanding which young children should have acquired by the end of the academic year in which they reach the age of 5;
• The educational programmes- the matters, skills and processes which are required to be taught to young children within the provision;
• The assessment arrangements for assessing young children to ascertain their achievements”.

The six areas covered under the learning goals are:

1. Personal, Social and Emotional Development- A group activity such as Show and Tell encourages a child to speak in front of their peers and for other children to learn to respect and listen to each other.
2. Understanding the World- If the provision has a large diversity of children, encouraging them to bring in something from their home that they are able to share with their peers, such as clothing or food, can help children explore and learn different aspects of their community.
3. Physical Development- A fun outside game, such as an obstacle course for the children to participate in would be a perfect opportunity for them to develop movement and co-ordination, or simple dancing games such as ‘head, shoulders, knees and toes’.
4. Mathematics- Practicing counting, shapes and measures together as a group whenever possible is always a perfect opportunity, eg: How many apple slices can count on your plate? How many letters are in your name? Ensuring there are plenty of images around them for them to look and question over.
5. Literacy- the provision has to ensure there are plenty of books and other reading materials around for children to explore whenever they want to. Group reading time is always positive and helping each child to recognise and write their own names.
6. Expressive Arts and Design- plenty of opportunities for children to explore and express themselves, such as role play, creative media, dance, music, arts and crafts. Providing the right materials so they are available to children all the time is the best way to ensure they can express themselves this way whenever they want to.

Task 2)

Teaching children from an early age to respect and value individuality enables them to learn that these values are very important within their society and for their future as these values will enable them to be decent young adults. Children learn these values from early on by observing everyday situations and mimicking the adults they interact with. The child care setting should be a positive, safe place for children to learn this respect for one another and should be filled with positive images, toys and electronic equipment that promote individuality and diversity as well as a positive perception of the world around them. The child care setting can easily focus entirely on each individual child by devising a plan which helps promote each child’s individuality and includes the parents or carers to participate in this plan too. This also helps other children to watch and listen to their peers and learn to understand, respect and value each others individuality. This can be a ‘show and tell’ chart or ‘achievement days’, where once a month, a child gets given a day where they can bring in anything from outside the child care setting that they have done to show and talk about to their child minder and peers, then after they are finished they are awarded a sticker to put onto the chart next to their name.

Task 3)

Children need consistency and the earlier they are given this the better, as it will benefit their ability to learn about respect and also to distinguish from right and wrong, otherwise they could become very confused in situations when beginning to learn about the outside world. Consistent routines at home and their child care setting helps children to keep calm and feel safe, but . Children need to learn that all actions will have a consequence, whether it is good or bad. This helps the children with establishing good and bad behaviour skills and embedding this in their every day life will promote their knowledge as they grow older. Initially to promote positive behaviour in the child care setting, the aim is to help them to want to be consistent in their own positive behaviour themselves by rewarding such behaviour, slowly making the rewards smaller and then taking them away, this will begin to let them realize that behaving well creates a happier environment for them and their peers. This is always a simple and effective way to teach them to not want to behave in a negative manner. Sticker charts, books or handing stickers out are always a popular treat for rewarding children, as well as asking them what activity they would like to do next, or which book they would like to read with the class? High appraisal from staff and peers gives children a positive feeling about themselves and their positive attitude. Negative behaviour must also have consequences, such as time out, but it is also important to sit the child down and discuss the situation to ensure the child isn’t left feeling confused or alone. Talking in a calming tone and keeping eye contact whilst letting the child know how they have made others feel when they have behaved in a negative manner will not only help them want to make positive choices but they will begin to understand empathy as well.

Task 4)

Conflicts between children and adults are common, particularly within a child care setting. There are various triggers that can create conflict which are listed below, such as the child having unmet needs resulting in them craving extra attention from their parent or teacher which can easily build into a heated conflict. Children find it very hard to be selfless at such a young age and often only see their point of view and find it difficult to understand someone elses views in a conflict situation. Due to their lack of social skills, children can easily escalate a small argument, such as over a toy, into a harsher argument as they don’t have the necessary communication skills to solve a conflict in a positive manner. Some children having a lack of suitable role models can easily give children a biased view in ways in which conflict can be handled and this can be very difficult to mend. Another trigger that can affect conflict is that when children are tired or hungry it can have a very suppressing effect on their mood and they may engage in conflicting behaviour. Often at home or any child care setting, a parent or teacher intervenes and solves an argument. Sometimes it’s simple when the conflict is between children and their peers but sometimes a child can create conflict with an adult and dealing with this in a positive way can be very distressing for both the child and the adult, making any reasoning very difficult. Many behavioural Theorists have contrasting views when it comes to whether conflict has a positive or negative effect on a childs development. Some feel that conflict helps to shape a child’s social skills for when they become adults and that learning to solve conflicts in a positive way equips them with the skills to continue this skill in their adult lives. Behavioural Theorist B.F Skinners believes in the system of positive and negative reinforcements. His theory is that reinforcers are used to strengthen both positive and negative behaviour and that humans of all ages respond to verbal operants such as taking advice, listening to the warnings of others and obeying given rules and laws. His theory suggests that without personally experiencing any negative consequences from disobeying, the child simply knowing what could happen when they decide to pursue negative behaviour will be enough for them to want to make positive choices instead. From this they can begin to learn from each incident for any future conflicts and they will want to repeat positive behaviour willingly. Ways of dealing with conflict in a positive manner could start with sitting down with the child and asking them questions about the conflict in question can make them feel like they do have a say in the situation, especially as some children find authority difficult. Letting a child know there is a positive solution to the conflict can calm them down and get them to sit down and think about the situation properly. Ask them what it is they are feeling, “are you angry? But also feeling hurt because you have had to wait for me to come and play?” Tell them how the other person could also be feeling, “I’m sad that you shouted at me, because I didn’t mean to ignore you, but I was very busy with the rest of the children too.” Ask them what they would now like to do, which would be the best way for everybody, a way for both of you to fix the situation in a positive way for a positive outcome. This strategy can let children feel safe and confident, but they may also see that conflict can most definitely be solved in a positive way.