Disciplining a preschooler can be one of the most challenging phases of parenting. It requires a lot of patience and know-how. There are all types of parenting recommendations and advice available, and there’s no one-size-fits-all approach for every parent. One approach may even have worked with your child last week, but it may not work the next time. We can all agree, managing children’s behavior difficulties during their preschool years can be challenging. This is where the importance of positive discipline for preschoolers comes into play. 

Challenging behavior is a natural part of a preschooler’s development. At this stage, kids begin to establish independence and push their boundaries from time to time. This quest for autonomy results in trying out new behaviors. However, because of their unrefined motor and verbal skills, they may become frustrated about not being able to do what they want to do, which can lead to difficult behaviors. 

Instilling discipline in a preschooler goes beyond teaching your child the difference between right and wrong. When parents use positive discipline, the focus shifts from negative actions and misbehavior to encouraging positive behaviors while also addressing the difficult ones. 

So how can you practice positive discipline with your preschooler? Take a look at these tips for more information!

Be a good role model

Learning appropriate behavior starts at home. As parents, we are our kids’ first teachers, not only in terms of literacy but also when it comes to teaching them values and appropriate behaviors. This is best accomplished by setting a positive example for children to follow.

Talking about the difference between right and wrong at home is a good start, but that alone is not enough to instill discipline in children. We have to be model positive actions for our kids because they observe everything we say and do. Be sure to display the kinds of behavior you want your preschooler to emulate. If you want your child to be kind and compassionate, make sure that these values are also displayed by you and other members of your family.  

Determine the root cause of the behavior

One common mistake many parents make is that they are quick to react to the behavior before hearing all of the information. Let’s admit it, many of us find ourselves screaming at our children as an immediate reflex.

It’s important to remember that kids don’t just misbehave for no reason. Your child doesn’t just have a tantrum throw his or her toy without a reason. There are always underlying triggers for why children behave the way they do. It’s our job as parents to find out why. 

Take time to learn about the root cause of your child’s behavior. Find out what triggered his or her actions before giving a consequence. Maybe your little one was trying to get your attention. Perhaps your child was triggered by his or her sibling’s actions and responded in an inappropriate way.  

Empathize

When children misbehave, our initial reaction is usually to get angry or yell. Instead of this knee-jerk reaction, have you ever tried meeting your child’s misbehavior with empathy? Parenting doesn’t have to entail constant stress as long as you know how to deal with the challenges in a  composed and calm manner. 

So, how does one do this? you do it? When your child throws a toy, try approaching the incident with a sense of calm instead of getting irritated or angry. Find out the reason behind your child’s actions and help your little one feel that he or she is understood. You can say something like, “I understand you were upset when your sister accidentally destroyed your favorite doll. I’d be upset if that happened to me too. But that isn’t a good way to express our feelings, and we will have to deal with that, but not right now.”

Strengthen your bond with your child

Giving children consequences for misbehavior shouldn’t make them feel unloved or unwanted. Make sure your child never questions your love and understands that disciplining him or her is a form of love. Instilling discipline needs to be coupled with love and affection. Positive behaviors will follow when children feel safe and secure in their parents’ love.

Parenting styles come in different forms. If you feel like you’ve already tried a bunch of strategies and none of them are working, you might want to consider incorporating positive discipline when it comes to your parenting approach. These tips can help you practice positive discipline with your preschooler. 

For more tips and resources on parenting, please visit Young Scholars Academy. 

 

Welcome to a new year! I know most of us are sitting at the bottom of expectations for 2021 or life in general. The upside to this is that we can only go up from here!

Our children have been jostled around for a year (which isn’t great), but they have learned to be more flexible and go with the flow. This hasn’t come easy to most, but it has been a great learning opportunity for children. Now that we all kind of get the gest of what is happening in the world. We can better plan for this year; it’s not such a slap in the face.

At this point you have recognized whether e-learning is working for your littles and/or what is working with your schedule. You may just have to ride out what is in place for now but come May you will be able to change your child’s learning paths or make adjustments at work to do so.
So, if nothing else, feel like you are back in charge of your life in 2021. Take back what is yours! Keep on building, keep on encouraging, keep on dreaming. Life is not over, it’s just changed.

If you can work from home, work at night, or not work at all consider changing your kids over to a home school learning. If you want to keep them in school, make sure you have back up plans in case of closures and keep yourself in the loop. If you need to have somewhere for your kiddo to be during the day and get help with their e-learning find a nanny or a childcare center that is able to accommodate those needs. Now that we know the problem, it’s time to find permanent solutions and keep on trucking.

Fill your house with the things that may not be accessible anywhere else. Some examples are water play, playdough, slime, and all the other messy doughs, ice cubes, finger paints, planting, housework, cooking, meal prepping, and using foods as learning tools and craft supplies. Schools and public places have been severely restricted of the things that adults don’t think much about. All these hands-on sensory items are so important to your child’s’ fine motor development and independence. We have had to “take so much away” from them that it needs to be given back in a safe environment. These are also little things that can keep children busy for hours.

I hope that some suggestions and tips have helped you in mapping out 2021 for your children. Good luck! And always reach out to us for help, we love helping!

Ms. Brooke
Lead Pre-Kindergarten Teacher
Curriculum Coordinator
Literacy Coordinator

Baby Sign language can look much different than American sign language in the way that the signs are articulated. While some signs do remain the same, quite a few are modified to accommodate their developing cognitive and fine motor skills. The modifications serve as a platform for baby’s and toddlers to more easily and efficiently convey their message, while also still learning and ironing out other new skills that they are acquiring. Our babies, at Young Scholars Academy, are communicating with us daily through the help of our highly trained teachers and their abilities in ASL. The question is… are you listening to these messages? If not, you are probably like most parents that are completely in the dark on what their small children are saying to them. Just like cooing and crying, these small jerky and sometimes uncoordinated hand motions are a form of communication.
Here are some pointers on what to look for when looking for signs in your babies and toddlers.

1. Repetitive motions- for the the most part, sign language is depicted by repeating a motion at least twice. Small children will typically repeat the motion that they witness using added emphasis. This is typically seen in the form of agressive repetition, meaning they might repeat the motion five or six times in a row to obtain your attention.
2. Body language- what does your toddler’s body language suggest? This can play a major factor on how the sign looks and what it means. If they are frustrated the sign may be a little more hasty and to the point. Are they tired? The sign could look a little more drawn out, slow or even sloppy. Sign language illustrates a ton of nonverbal emotion in addition to the vocabulary they are portraying, therefore, it is extremely important to pay attention to these body language cues.
3. Verbal communication- Toddlers will inevitably begin ununciating small words in addition to signs they have learned along the way. Most of the time, toddlers begin verbal communication by saying the word they are trying to articulate with the sign that the word is also associated with. Make sure you are paying close attention to signs that are present when a word is being used in conjunction. You may not always connect the two but understanding one or the other will help you understand what you didn’t pick up on.
   Finally, sign language is a “complete natural language that has the same linguistic properties as spoken language,” therefore signs that your baby learns count as a portion of their early vocabulary. Additionally, studies have been conducted to compare babies who learned sign language over babies that only learned verbal communication to “show how babies and toddlers who know signs have improved cognitive and emotional development which also lead to increased rates of verbal development in toddlerhood.”
   https://www.nidcd.nih.gov/health/american-sign-language….
   https://www.babysignlanguage.com/basics/research/….

Thank you for reading! For real examples find us on Facebook and check out our videos!
-Ms. Morgan
Parent Connection Coordinator