WHAT DO GAMES AND RHYMES TEACH US

HERE IS SOMETHING FOR EARLY CHILDHOOD LEADERS-

HOW TO TRAIN WITH GAMES!

Training early childhood leaders and teams in management principles with boring management quotes just does not work. Why not help these teams learn through games and rhymes?  

So here are some great management principles disguised in simple everyday games and rhymes. Play and sing while you learn and lead!  Become a better leader, more organized and be able to manage time, change and people, effectively and successfully. Try it, it is fun and it works too.

 

1. Passing the parcel- everyone knows how to play this game- but what team management lesson does this game teach us? - Simple, do not pass the buck, some day the ball will stop at you and you will get the forfeit. So do your work and your duty and if at fault take the blame, don’t pass the buck!
2. I spy game – a simple game, in which you hide an object and others have to find it. What does this game teach us? – It teaches us to be keen observers and look for the hidden quality threats in our centre. So play this game often as it develops keen observation skills which will help staff to seek out what’s wrong. It can be a miss spelt word on a chart, a cobweb hiding in a corner, a nail sticking out from the furniture, a water puddle that can be a potential safety threat.
3. Mary had a little lamb- and everywhere that Mary went the lamb was sure to go- what does this rhyme teach us?- a simple management principle. Follow the leader. Be a good leader and train your team well, explain the reasons behind the rules and the systems  and then you will have stress free teams that focus and agree on quality, quality, quality.
4. Race around the clock with hickory dickory dock- the mouse knew what to do when the clock struck one- do you? Set an hour wise timetable for yourself. A beautiful way to teach and practice time management.
5. Little Bo Beep who lost her sheep and doesn’t know where to find them…….when teams go haywire or a day goes hay wire and nothing works, just go with the flow and slowly things will fall into place.  disorganized day schedules can add to stress levels and tears so just leave them alone and they will come home……!
6. Little boy blue has a job to do- but where is the boy? Fast asleep. What is every team members job description, and if they ‘sleep’ on their duties then what are  the repercussions, define the duties and define the repercussions or else you will have some team members always sleeping on the job and others bearing the brunt of it, and doing all the extra work.
7. Little Miss Muffet sat on a tuffet

Eating her curds and whey

Down came a big spider and sat down beside her

And frightened miss muffed away-

New teachers and new staff members are like little Miss Muffet, scared of the unknown! Prepare teachers especially new ones about the job and the ‘emergencies or things out of control’ that sometimes add stress to the job. Is she prepared or will she be like little Miss Muffet when faced with the spider? The biggest spider that we need to watch out for is staff gossip as it drives away many a Miss Muffet!

 

 

So you have a rainbow of songs and games to practice and play at your centre with yourself and your staff. And in each of the above is hidden a management principle or training, so in true spirit of developmentally appropriate practice even you are playing while you learn!

 

Enjoy.

do children misbehave, or do we?

In today’s world teachers and mothers need to be leaders and not bosses. In Piaget’s words they must work for the goal of ‘autonomy’ (intelligent and ethical decision making) rather than obedience.

 

There should be no such thing as ‘discipline’; it should be behavior management or modification. Discipline, is fixed, like in the army, but behavior can vary and with it varies the methods of handling misbehavior. 

 

Children in the first 6 years lack impulse control, they react without thinking.  Impulse control is developed with the growth in the pre frontal cortex, so the more the prefrontal cortex develops, the better will be the logic, reasoning, attention, focus in children. Play games to develop impulse control, simple games like ‘Simon says’, ‘Red light, Green light’, all develop impulse control. In Simon says, child has to concentrate and wait for the word ‘Simon’ to do the action, so he controls his impulse to do the action, until he hears the word.

 

After the age of 6 behavioral problems continue sometimes because kids lack self control. It is important to understand that- 

 

·         Children are able to focus only on one thing at a time. And so during a tantrum they are unable to see the other point of view.

·         They are unable to figure out the impact of their actions on others in a logical way.

·         Kids have a hard time working out how to get from one state of affairs to another. So it takes them time to work out their emotions. 

 

The best time to change children’s behavior is not during a tantrum, as the brain is in a shut down mode during a tantrum.  It is often when children are not in the heat of a tantrum that they are best able to think and learn about it.

It would be ideal to have an agreement of behaviour both at home and school- rule # 1 should be, ‘hitting and hurting is not allowed and so we will use words instead.’  Show kids a socially accepted avenue to show their anger and frustration; don’t stop them from experiencing these emotions.  Use sentences like,’ I know you are angry because I did not give you the toy, but instead of beating me, you can beat the pillow’. Don’t react to kid’s misbehavior with your own, if we are telling children, not to hit others when they are angry, then how can we hit them when we are angry? 

 

Any form of whacking or smacking is still child abuse. You may justify spanking by saying you love your child and want him to improve but you are only teaching the child that hitting is a form of showing love, and they will then grow up accepting violence and violent people. Domestic violence stems from such childhood experiences. Children who are smacked associate love and violence to be the same and so they turn violent or accept violence towards themselves.

What works is conflict resolution. Conflict resolution can be taught in the following steps-

1.     Seeking help- by calling for an adult or going to an adult and informing him that someone is troubling him. Here adults need to understand that this is not tattling and the child should not be blamed for coming for help as this is the first step of conflict resolution, when the child’s efforts at this step fails then he ‘fails’ to believe in any kind of resolution and will then resort to violence.

2.     Taking turns or sharing- an important social skill that is needed to survive with friends and siblings and children should be motivated and complimented for doing it.

3.     Using language instead of hands- teaches children to talk about their needs, their likes and dislikes. Teach them to communicate it to their friends and siblings. ‘Please don’t push my toys’, please don’t push me, you are hurting me’. Etc

4.     Teach children to walk away- a very important technique which can be very helpful when dealing with bullies, instead of standing and arguing or appealing to the bully, walk away from him.

5.     Discussing and planning with adults- telling the parents about a certain bully or how some of her friends tease her etc. then the parents can sit with the child and help her plan what to do and when. This helps the child understand that there is always a way out of the problem and also helps her self esteem and confidence as she is assured in the safe feeling that her parents are there for her.

 

For repeated instances of misbehaviour, it is important to see children who experience repeated serious conflict not as problem children but as children with problems who need guidance.

So try the following- 

n  Identify and specify instances of misbehavior

n  Observe what happens before and after the behavior

n  Measure how often it happens

n  How long does it last

n  Find a pattern in the behavior

n  Bring about the Change and implement it.

n  Continue measuring the behavior

n  Every time the child exhibits the new behavior, Encourage new behavior.

 

How we modify our kids behaviour when they are at their most vulnerable has a tremendous impact on their personality, coping skills and our dreams for them. When we believe in positive behaviour management it fosters emotional growth and logical thinking is nurtured. They learn about cause and effect, they learn to trust adults and respect and love themselves.

 

Adults should remember that children do not misbehave we misinterpret their behaviour.