Sue

Policies

Positive Guidance Philosophy


Philosophy
Sue Rowe and Child Care Assistants partake in many different types of discipline and child management trainings such as 1-2-3 Magic, Discipline with Love & Logic, BabyWise and several others. A caring child care provider understands there are many factors that can lead to undesirable behavior. The secret of positive guidance is to first determine which factors may be negatively affecting a child's behavior. For example, are they hungry, tired, worried, overstimulated, sick or bored?

Understanding and Managing Emotions in Little Ones - Fussiness
There can be many reasons why a child or baby is fussy and we look for signs from the baby or child to help us understand what they are feeling. If they are showing signs of fatigue, we will place them in a pack 'n'play to see if they will nap; if a baby seems hungry, we will try to feed him her a bottle. We also know there are personality differences that make some children more "fussy" than others. Injuries, illness, and a number of emotional concerns can lead to periods of fussiness for most young children. In most cases, during periods of fussiness, most young children can be soothed when a provider gives some extra "TLC" or "hug therapy." In some cases, a child might have a "fussy" day now and then. We approach the challenge of a fussy baby or child in a calm fashion, attempting to sooth or comfort by trying a nap, nourishment, diaper change, rocking, distracting with a toy or activity, talking about something the baby or child likes. There may be times when we need the advice or assistance of the parents if a child seems fussy. At dropoff times, it is important that a parent relate any important information that could affect the child emotionally such as one of the parents traveling for business, an experience during the night with "night fright," a traumatic experience over the weekend such as a "scary" injury. We will contact a parent if we need help in soothing a fussy child or baby.

Guiding Behavior to Promote Positive Development
Provider and Assistant Provider's expectations of behavior are age-appropriate, consistent and fair. Guiding young children's behavior at Sue's House is accomplished by setting clear expectations by talking about what kinds of behaviors are desired and undesired at the child care home, establishing and reminding children of rules and limits through reinforcement, modeling of polite behavior and by redirecting should undesirable behavior occur. Guidance techniques shall be used to support the development of social skills, self-control, self-esteem and respect for the rights of others. By state licensing code, "Time-Out" cannot be used for children under the age of three years. Instead, we do a gentle redirection which provides the child with an opportunity to be removed from a conflict situation, the opportunity to reflect and regroup emotionally and psychologically and rest in a low stimulus area which may include sitting on a provider or assistant provider's lap. For children over the age of three, a "Time Out" will be conducted under guidance of the provider.

Organization of Environment, Communication and Management of schedules, situations and contexts are practical approaches to reducing the need for punitive guidance techniques.

1) Our environment is maintained in a "user friendly" setup; toys and materials are changed frequently.

2) Enough toys, especially of favorite items, are available for all children.

3) We offer a balance of active and quiet activities.

4) We set few limits and ensure limits are reasonable and age-appropriate.

5) We encourage children to use words instead of physical actions to express feelings and solve problems.

6) We use diversion or distraction to re-direct.

7) We ignore some behaviors not dangerous to children (so as to not reinforce).

8) We treat children with the same respect as adults.

9) To avoid reactive guidance, we have developmentally appropriate expectations for children's behavior and we communicate our expectations for behavior to the children, taking care to notice when someone is trying hard and listening.

10) We tell children in advance about their schedule for the day.

11) We model appropriate behaviors such as manners, compromise, cooperation, respect, kindness and compassion.

12) We avoid power struggles with children – picking the more important "battles."

13) When we build self-esteem in children, they are more willing to cooperate. We build self-esteem by:

Prohibited Actions outlined in DCF 250.07
Actions that may be psychologically, emotionally or physically painful, discomforting, dangerous or potentially injurious are prohibited.

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