Discipline at the Childcare Center & School

Much challenging behavior can be prevented if the early childhood program is well organized, educationally effective, and truly interesting to young children. But no child's behavior is perfect all of the time, and some children are harder to deal with than others. When a teacher must act to stop a child's unacceptable behavior, the goal should always be to do it with self-control and without violence. The goal of discipline is to teach children self-control, not to punish them.

The best way to get young children to behave well is to start with a positive relationship. Building on this, it is important for the teacher to pay attention to children and recognize good behavior. With a large group of active young children, it can be difficult to praise every child, but paying attention to good behavior pays off. If children get attention only when they misbehave, they often repeat that behavior to get more attention.

You can teach children self-control and rewards for good behavior by:

• Letting children see good behavior by your example.
• Setting reasonable limits and rules (not too many and involving children in developing the rules when possible).
• Having consistent, age-appropriate standards for behavior.
• Having consistent consequences for misbehaving (but understanding that "bad days" will happen, and some children have special needs that require adaptations).

Teachers can try some of the following guidelines for discipline in the classroom:

• Try to ignore behavior that is irritating but not dangerous—e.g., whining, swearing, or having tantrums. Otherwise, bad behavior is getting more attention than good behavior.
• Natural and logical outcomes can teach lessons. When a child ignores friendly, repeated warnings about what might happen, sometimes the best option is to let it happen. This should never be the case when safety is at stake.
• When young children are fighting or arguing, the teacher needs to get between them. Kneeling down to their level, the teacher can listen to the children's description of the problem and ask the children to think of ways to solve it. The teacher can guide them to a fair and nonviolent solution. If it works, the teacher can praise them; if it does not, he or she can try another approach. If one child clearly has been hitting or picking on another, the teacher should speak to the victim first, allowing him to say what he wants and how he feels. The victim should be encouraged to face the aggressor and say how he feels. It is important that the aggressor doesn't get more attention than the victim.
• Timeout is a method that some teachers use to give children a short cooling-off period. If you use it, keep the time short; pick a safe, supervised, and quiet place; then talk about the problem with the child after timeout is over.