Meet Emotional Needs and Settle Children - Assignment Example

Task Meet emotional needs and settle children a) You need to describe how to build a relationship and attachment with Max. Include his parents inthis relationship. Establishing a strong rapport with very young children can be challenging for adults who are strangers to them. Considering I will only be with Max for a limited time during his day, I should exert extra effort to leave a strong imprint of my company. Engaging in activities that truly interest him and making him feel that I am interested myself in him and in the activity would make a huge difference in how Max would interact with me in future sessions. Offering to read him an interesting story, with a plot that he can relate to, and discussing it in relation to is experiences will hook him in active participation. Playing with him with or without an attractive toy will work as well. Conferencing with his parents regarding his interests and current situation and asking them for suggestions on how to create personal ties with Max would help me think of more appropriate strategies in bonding with him. b) Say what you would do for Max immediately to alleviate his distress. Imagine when a child is upset and what you would do. Max can be comforted by the fact that his old familiar Teddy bear is there with him. Its role will be to keep him company as a familiar character in school. To make him feel more in control, I would direct his attention to entertaining his teddy bear so that the bear will not feel so anxious in school. In that way, I am using the bear to work on Max’s own anxieties but making it appear that it is Max who would be responsible in alleviating his bear’s distress. I would point out to his bear and say, “Max, I think your bear needs a little cheering up today and since you are the only one he knows well here, you tell me what you think he would want to do… you think he wants to play with dough, do some puzzles, read a story or play with cars?” Giving Max a choice is one way of putting him in control. This is also a way to know what Max himself wants to do, in the guise of his bear wanting the activity. c) This question asks how you would provide a safe and secure environment but it is not referring to safety but emotional security and stability. As a caregiver, I create a warm and welcoming environment for all the children by choosing enough attractive and age-appropriate toys, books and other learning materials that would be available for the them.. I would set up the room in such a way that children can move freely from one learning area to another, keeping in mind the activities that I expect would go on in a particular learning area. For instance, I would keep quiet areas such as the mini Reading nook away from noisy areas such as the blocks or manipulative area which I expect would be a-buzz with children’s productive noise. I will also prepare interesting but not overwhelming activities for the children that would follow a schedule, with the goal of eventually establishing routines. Examples would be using puppets to introduce each child, a simple story about starting school or day care, and a variety of hands-on activities such as playdough, macaroni-stringing, block play and the like. d) Even though we might not think it is a major drama, it is for Max and he is suffering a sense of loss that Jesse is away. State several ways you can support Max through this loss. Acknowledging Max’s feelings of loss is the first step in helping him deal with it. To know that what he is feeling is normal, and not easily dismissed or frowned upon makes him feel respected and safe. Assure him that it’s ok to be sad when a dear friend is sorely missed and let him talk about it. Perhaps ask him some questions on what he misses about Jesse and suggest you do it together. Another strategy is to help him focus on the positive. Suggest that you make something nice for Jesse while he is away so that he can surprise his friend with the painting or card that he has done in his absence. This will also create excitement and anticipation in Max to dispel his sense of loss. e) How can you make Max feel a part of the centre. Think of ways he would feel that the centre was his and he belonged there. There are quite a few suggestions in your module notes. Children would feel more welcome if they see that some parts of the room have been customized for them. They are assigned cubbyholes to place their things while in school, and these are especially labeled with their own names or pictures. Displaying children’s works all around the classroom not only boosts their self-esteem and confidence but also builds up a sense of pride that they are contributing something of their own to the school. Young children also need a lot of reminders of home since the centre is a transitional place between home and school, so pictures of themselves and their families would be good to have around for a homier atmosphere. f) When thinking how to develop friendships for Max think about what type of activities you could plan that would help him make friends and ways you could pair him up with other children throughout the day. Although Max’s tight friendship with Jesse may seem hard to top, it is possible to help him develop friendships other than him. Grouping children may begin with a game like “All the children whose name begins with the same letter will be working together today” or “All children wearing the same color will stay in this corner”. This way, staying with the group is like complying with the rules of the game. Observing Max closely in his interactions with his group mates will help me in coming up with appropriate comments to him later that would encourage him to pursue these new friendships. For instance, telling him the project he and his new friend did together looked great and asking them how they came up with it gives them both ownership of an awesome idea and piece of work. This will open Max’s awareness that there are other children who may be great friends too! Task 2: Communicate specific messages to children 1. How would you explain the benefits of eating your vegetables to: It is understandable if children do not take a liking to the taste of vegetables, but it is something they just have to eat. Modeling the eating behavior, enticing children that vegetables are good for the body show children how an adult values good nutrition. When adults offer nutritious food to children or see them choosing it over less nutritional food, they can take the opportunity to give tidbits of information to educate the children on good nutrition. Communicating the benefits of good nutrition differs for toddlers and preschoolers. Toddlers: Since toddlers are more concrete learners, modelling eating behaviour by an adult would be more effective. Offer the toddler nutritious snacks like fruit or cereal while telling them that such foods will help them move better or run faster, tasks that toddlers aim to be better at and are more relevant to them. Preschoolers: Preschoolers have the tendency to hero-worship special characters. They emulate what they do in the hopes of getting the same effects on things and people. Using such idols will be effective motivators for children to eat well. A more animated script such as the one that follows may be appropriate for preschoolers: “Vegetables and other nutritious food have innate powers to give you the strength you need everyday. It makes you grow big and healthy. You all know Popeye the sailor who turns into a superhero every time he eats spinach? Wouldn’t you want to have the same powers? Then, eat vegetables even if they’re “yuck”. “ 2. When is it appropriate to wash your hands during the day with children? Please list and indicate why. Before and after snacks – to rid their hands of germs that may contaminate their food or spread infection and bacteria. After wiping noses – to ensure that mucus and bacteria from colds do not spread. After arts and crafts – to clean their hands of paint, glue and other art materials that may stick to their hands. After outdoor play – to clean their hands after touching sand, soil, playground equipment that may be a source of germs and bacteria that may easily spread around. Before cooking activities – to keep their hand clean before touching the ingredients so germs are kept from contaminating the food. 3. How do you explain the benefits of hand washing to: (a) Jesse (4 years) who sneers at you when you ask him to wash before afternoon tea, and says thats ‘wussy’ and he wont. I would explain to him that there are germs that are invisible to his eye that are crawling all over his hands. These germs are the culprits of sicknesses. Since getting sick makes him feel awful, one way of preventing that is washing hands to get rid of the pesky germs. Soaping ensures that germs would be removed in hand washing. (b) Antonio (2 years) who runs giggling from the bathroom, thinking it is a game to avoid you after toileting? Playing “chase” is very attractive and fun for toddlers, and I would promise Antonio that we could do that if he agrees to wash his hands with me after toileting. Right after toileting is not a good time to run around, and there is a special time for it. For now, washing hands is what is called for. If I give in to chasing him after toileting, then the behaviour will just be reinforced, so I better just stay put and seriously call him to wash his hands. This I can do after my thorough explanation of the benefits of hand washing and the appropriate time to do things. Task 3: Encourage children to complete tasks themselves Jack - You need to say how you will support Jack in his attempts at independent eating. What will you do and say to praise and encourage him. Although Jack’s attempts at independent eating may result in an entirely messy situation, his motivation and drive should be celebrated. He may still be a helpless infant in many ways but when he begins to show a sign that he wants to be more in charge of his needs, then it is high time that he be allowed. Since his fine motor skills are very limited at his stage, giving him tools to eat very early on may require prerequisite activities. Giving him finger food so he can feed himself will give him a sense of fulfillment at being able to do something without anyone’s help. Cheering him on like saying “Great, Jack, you are getting to be a big boy eating by yourself!” would motivate him further to seek independence. Of course, supervision by an adult is still required, as the possibility of danger (e.g. choking on big bites of food) may still lurk. Helping him move on to the more challenging task of eating with utensils will require that his fine motor skills be honed. Giving him a plastic spoon to transfer big beads (too big to be swallowed) from one bowl to another would be one good exercise in eye-hand coordination. As he grows older and more adept at this, he may be transitioned to using a real spoon with real food like cereal. Fleur - You need to respond to the workers inappropriate comments as they would be damaging to Fleurs self-esteem. What would you say? You also need to say how you would support Fleur in her attempts to write her name herself and how you would encourage and praise her. Learning to write your name is a long process and Fleur is progressing well towards that aim. How can you help her without her feeling like she is doing it wrong? Workers need to understand developmental skills of the children they work with. In private, I would correct the worker’s inappropriate action by reminding her that Fleur’s attempts at writing her name may not pass the worker’s adult standards, but it is a developmentally-appropriate skill that she exhibited when she scribbled her “name” on her painting. Scoffing at the child’s attempt may affect Fleur’s self-esteem and future attempts to write. With Fleur, I would retrieve her work and praise her attempt at writing her name and give her a blank sheet of paper to show me how she does it. Then, I would write her name and tell her I like how she wrote her name the way it resembles the real thing and point out how her name is actually spelled. I would then make dotted lines to write her name for her to follow. This “scaffold” may be given to her everyday until she is ready to write her name without the dotted lines. Jesse - How can you support Jesse in the tying of his shoes independently? What would you do and say? What would you do and say when his mother arrived? You need to respect that she is in a hurry but also show respect for Jesses attempts at his shoes. What could you do differently tomorrow to avoid the problem of Jesse still tying shoes when Mum arrives? It takes an enormous amount of patience to teach a child a new skill. Tying shoelaces is one of them, as it requires eye-hand coordination, visual discrimination and memory skills. We adults may take it for granted, as we have tied thousands of shoelaces all our lives, but for young children, it is considered a great feat to be able to tie one’s shoelaces by himself. If Jesse is still in the process of completing the task when his mother arrives, I would be quick to announce the exciting news to his mother that he is having a breakthrough in self-help skills! My attitude will surely affect his mother’s perspective – turning a potentially stressful “tug-of-war” between a mother’s need to rush and a child’s struggle to complete a task, no matter how slow he is at it. I would enjoin his mother to cheer him on, and model to her myself how to motivate Jesse to keep on trying instead of just quitting. Knowing that children need time to practice new skills to mastery, I would provide Jesse another opportunity to tie his shoelaces at a more convenient time. This could be earlier than dismissal time to avoid the rush that his mother’s arrival causes for his pick-up. Read More