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INTERACTIONS WITH CHILDREN * 2 HOURS * LEVEL 2

Guidance and Interactions
Building Connections with Children

Page 3
Relationships are at the very heart of early learning and development. Through their early interactions babies learn to feel secure, to communicate, and to enjoy being with people. As they grow and develop, toddlers and young children love to play, to chat, to watch, and to be with others. Children build relationships, communicate, express love and affection, play together, learn, and have their needs met through contact with others.

Social-emotional development provides the foundation for all learning and growth for young children. In this course we will look at how you can support children emotionally and provide the guidance they need to function well and thrive in your program and the larger world.  Emotionally supportive caregiving means intentionally building connections with children and responding to their actions in positive ways. It also means stepping in to stop off-track behaviors in ways that help them. 
People who provide care for children need to build secure, connected relationships with each and every child by being: 
A warm listener who cares about children’s expressions and thoughts
  • Respectful towards children, parents, and other staff
  • Flexible
  • Honest and ethical
  • Cheerful and creative
  • Appreciative of diversity and inclusive in your practices

Caregivers with these attributes are able to build secure relationships with children. These secure relationships are vital because: 
  • Adult-child interactions are the heart of children’s programs.
  • Secure children can act thoughtfully with kindness and generosity.
  • Secure connections allow children to advocate for themselves and others against unfairness and unkindness.

The more secure children are in their connections, the more they are able to build “executive function” skills of self-management, that allows them to:
  • Think well
  • Use good judgment
  • Plan ahead
  • Remember things
  • Control impulses
  • Pay attention

You are very important in the lives of the children you care for and teach.  They need you to:
  • Model the ways you want them to behave. For example, don’t sit on the tables or toy shelves unless you want children to climb up and sit on them, too.
  • Act with generosity, kindness, humor, warmth, flexibility, respect and caring.
  • Meet their developmental needs to learn and grow.
  • Give them options and choices. 

The following strategies can help you with guidance:
  • During choice or free play time, have 1 ½ times as many things to do as you have children.
  • Verbally give choices, i.e. “The blue one or the red one.” Limit to two choices that are acceptable to you.
  • Try offering regular special time to each child in your care daily or weekly.
  • If a child had a hard time the day before, plan to do a special time the moment that they arrive. Begin their day with a connection to you.

Many interactions just happen while others come about through careful planning and decision-making. The teacher's expertise, experience and view of their role in fostering children’s learning and development also influence the types of interactions the adult has with children. In addition, some children require significant support for extended periods of time, while others require less and over shorter time-frames.