Guiding Children Through Daily Transitions
As a provider it can be challenging guiding children through different changes during day. Some children handle transition very well while others may react aggressively, or have a melt down if not given enough warning. A little planning will help the children move from one activity to another in a positive and fun way.
By us participating in the activities that we want the children to do, like helping picking up toys instead of just watching, demonstrates appropriate behavior. Children love to be recognized for helping and those who aren’t picking up will jump at the chance to be rewarded with high fives or words of praise. Using short but direct positive directions such as: “Please Walk”, and telling children ahead of time what they will be doing or what behavior is expected of them helps.
You may need to deal with a child who, no matter what you try just doesn’t deal with transitions well. Situations like drop off and pick up time, when the phone rings, or group settings like art or circle time. Safety to me has to be the first concern dealing with this special child. With the parent’s approval, you may want to have this child stay close to you while greeting parents, or fixing lunch or at reading time. For smaller children I use a highchair with learning toys on the tray while I work with the other children or fix lunch. I also ask the child to help with washing of chairs and tables to prepare for meals. Others will want to help, and that’s good for this will help teach them teamwork. A lot of praise helps so be sure to let them know when they make good choices.
Sometimes just making a ‘line up’ list of who stands next to whom or who sits next to whom at the table is a lifesaver and prevents many conflicts. Even at naptime you’ll need to find the right chemistry of who sleeps best next to whom. This may take you a few weeks but it’s worth the effort and everyone will have a better naptime and you get some rest or free time too.
Older children love to be helpers so if you need a bathroom break or are having the children line up to wash hands or are going outside, they can be your leaders to sing songs and count for you. When you distract little ones with fun songs or actions like sign language they learn while they are having fun plus the older children will learn leadership skills. Even having children identify toys by shape or colors makes time fly by and they have fun doing it.
For the parents as well as the children I post what activities we will do each day for a week at a time. This helps parents prepare their children for the next day and affords parents the opportunity to ask informed questions on how their child’s day went.
Make sure that the parents keep you informed of any schedule changes like coming late or going early. Most children can’t tell time but they are very aware of who goes home when and whose turn is next. If one parent comes early some children could stress out because it appears to them that their parents are late when really they are on time. If you know of changes ahead of time you can prepare the children and keep the worries to a minimum. This also helps you plan your day and makes sure no one misses out on activities. If you have people coming to check out your day care you can plan out activities that will keep the children occupied. These activities work well when Social Services come for a visit or when you need to make an important phone call.
Giving children choices makes transition time a lot easier but just make sure the choices work for you as well as the children. Post activities like songs, poems, or counting games near the areas where transitions occur to help you and your helpers make transitions throughout the day goes as smoothly as possible.
Patti Jo Lawrenz
pjltips@aol.com
