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Expert Q&A
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| By Harriet S. Worobey, M.A. Early Childhood Educator Director, the Nutritional Sciences Preschool | ||
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My 2-year-old acts up constantly at daycare. What can I do at home to encourage good behavior when he's away from me?
The first thing to do is collect information. What circumstances lead to the problem behavior? If the answer from the school is "everything," it is going to be hard to tackle the problem.
Be sure that they give you full and complete information about exactly what's going on in school. Make a list of the problem areas and times of day for your child. Then work with the school on prioritizing the issues. If the top concern is hitting, for example, then work with them on that first. You can't solve every problem at once!
Then look into the when, how and why of the hitting. Your child may have much more difficulty expressing himself and being understood at school than for you at home. He may be an only child and not used to sharing toys. Whatever the reason, it is important to find that out.
Once you have found the cause, then you and the school personnel can work on an improvement plan. You might be able to read books at home on sharing or play role-playing games with your child to help in the process. The school for their part must properly supervise your child, try to anticipate problems rather than mopping up after a crisis, help your child to express his feelings verbally and provide choices and re-direction when necessary. The school has to make sure that your child feels loved and secure, no matter how challenging his behavior can be. Both you and the school need to reinforce all positive behavior and keep in close communication about progress.
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