Skills For Life 
Licensed Family Child Care

Discipline at skills for life is about teaching and is not about being negative or committing negative acts such as any physical acts of punishment, isolation, humiliation or withholding basic needs.

 

Staff work with babies, toddlers & preschoolers in teaching positive behaviours. Each and every little one will be learning at different levels but everyone will all be learning and growing together. For enhanced education each child is acknowledged as an individual to determine the child’s learning style to motivate and encourage.

 

The teams first stage and fundamental of guidance is on Prevention Strategy and Intervention Strategy.

 

These include:

• Making sure the activity or situation gives the child an opportunity to thrive

• Empowering children to use their words to express themselves

• Helping children understand body language and how to express them in a positive way

• Reinforcing good behaviour while it is happening 

• Establishing clear and simple rules

• Providing appropriate choices

• Model pro-social behaviour through play

• Teaching how to ask for things at a very young age

• Recognizing when a child is struggling and reassuring them it's ok to ask for help

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Daily the teams provides clear expectations with positive attitudes in reinforcing appropriate behaviour. Their focus is to give positive encouraging advice along with assistance to each child’s learning and social experience.

 

Conflict does arise in a child care setting and there will most likely will be a challenging time through out their lives at some point. In a small family child care setting care givers have the opportunity to watch and help children practice Conflict Resolution Skills n a positive healthy way. Conflict resolution Skills involves communication, real listening and problem solving for healthy solutions that all children can agree to. 

 

Child care providers can begin teaching and helping children at a very young age to understand conflict with some simple steps on how to deal. Remember that children need repeated practice to resolve conflicts. Care givers will need to lead children through the first steps and build on those steps as the little one improves on his or her Conflict Resolution Skills. With repeated practice and positive guidance children can learn to work through these steps by themselves with care givers close by to help them build confidence.

 

Child care providers can begin teaching and helping children at a very young age to understand conflict. Care givers will be able to lead children through the first steps and build on those steps as the little ones improves on his or her conflict Resolution Skills. With repeated practice and positive guidance children can learn to work through these steps by themselves to build confidence in heated situations.

 

Acknowledging both sides of conflict is very important at Skills For Life. Staff don't expect babies or toddlers to sort things out for themselves. They need adults to keep the peace and to explain things to each other to learn. 

 

The next examples of stage are based on a child taking away a toy.

 

Staff are always watching and if they see an incident they will deal with it right away!

If a toy was taken away from a child and they were struggling on how to get the toy back. The caregiver will acknowledge the child's feelings "I see your upset, I'll help you." When the child is able to communicate the care givers will start to help them feel comfortable asking for help and express their feelings in a positive way. These skills take time and practice but it is our goal to have them feeling comfortable expressing themselves in a positive way and with Conflict Resolution in time for Kindergarten. Our care givers biggest focus to help children get ready for Kindergarten is encouraging children to ask for help when their not comfortable with something and talking to an adult.

 

For the Child who took the toy depending on the age and stage of compression

 

Second stage-Redirection

Simple explanation “wait your turn”

Redirection with a toy they love or something new and exciting “lets play with this while we wait”.

 If a child is having a hard time one my avoided the temptation  by playing in another fun area.

 

Third  stage- basics understanding of who had the toy first

This is a great operationally to teach consequences of choices. Also with giving the little one options helps them feel more in control of their bodies and less frustrated .

 

We use the 1, 2, 3 method. So in the place they took the toy away, staff counting to give the child time to proses and chose.

 

• "Taking toys isn't nice. Please give the toy back to your friend or I'll take it away at the count of 3."

• "1-Please give the toy back, put it on the floor or give it to me"

• "2-Please give the toy back, put it on the floor or give it to me"

• "3-Please give the toy back, put it on the floor or give it to me"

• At 3 the caregiver will take the toy. Acknowledge and verbalize the children’s feelings. "I know your sad because you really wanted that toy. It isn't nice to take toys away. Lets find something else really fun to play with while we wait."

 

Forth stage- The care giver has given the child an optionally to make thing right and the child clearly understand what he or she is did.

There may be times when conflict arises in witch it will be resolved by 12 steps of conflict resolution

 

1. Approach calmly, stopping any hurtful actions.

2. Acknowledge and verbalize children’s feelings.

3. Wait till the child is ready to work through the problem.

4. Re-acknowledge the children’s feelings and let the child express them.

5. Gather information.

6. Restate the problem.

7. Discuss in an age appropriate manner what the consequences of the actions or choices could lead too.

8. Ask for ideas or solutions.

9. Encourage positive helpful ideas or solutions and choose one together.

10. Let the child choose when to make the positive choice in an appropriate time frame.

11. Be prepared to give follow up support or appropriate consequent if needed.

12. Observe more closely and check in if needed

 

In some circumstances if a child is acting out inappropriately the child will have a natural, age appropriate and logical consequence. If a child is acting out and is out of control in some situations a child may need some “thinking time” in a safe appropriate places so they can calm down. These places could be a chair, on the couch, in a stroller, a safe space on the ground and so on… a staff member will remained with the child till he or she calms down. If a child shows understanding of what just happened and is clearly angered from a heated situation the staff member by give the child space to calm down if needed but the staff member will never leave the child unsupervised. When the child regains his emotional and physical state, we will talk about it, learn from it and then he or she will be invited back to participate in the group activities again when he or she is ready. No negative acts such as physical acts of punishment, isolation, humiliation or withholding basic needs will be permitted at Skills for Life Child Care. If a child is clearly over tired and can not participate because he or she is emotionally or physically tired a staff member will ask the child to read or rest on the designated cot. Video monitors with two-way communication are placed in the quite room incase a situation arises where a child needs to catch up on sleep.

 

A parent will be contacted for pick up if the child:

• is so over tired that he or she is still acting out 

• can not focus or listen to staff 

• is under any distress 

• is effecting the group in a negative way

 

 

For more great information on positive techniques for children check out Guiding Children’s Behaviour