• Teaching Children About Rules to Help Guide Behaviors

    We have three "rules" that will be introduced to your children.

    1. Be Kind smiley face

    2. Be Safe heart

    3. Take Care of Your Things Image result for earth clipart

    You can help provide consistency by using the same language when discussing behaviors with your child at home.  Young children can often become frustrated easily which can result in some challenging behaviors.  Children are egocentric.  They cannot manipulate logic or determine cause and effect well at this age.  They test their power in the world and want control.  They have difficulty expressing their emotions with words well.  Talking about rules in a meaningful way sets boundaries and also allows children to understand why the rules are in place.

    Teach positively and use phrases like "Be kind - keep your hands on your own body", "Be kind - use your words to ask for a turn", "Be safe - walk inside", "Be safe - keep your feet on the ground", "Take care of our things - be gentle with the book", "Take care of our things - put the toys on the shelf", etc.

    Remember, all behavior is communication.  You can't make a behavior disappear - you have to replace it with an appropriate behavior.  Most importantly, we have to model the behavior we are trying to teach!