CHILD BEHAVIOUR GUIDANCE PRINCIPLES

The Reaching for Rainbows Child Development Centre emphasises the provision of well-planned programs, which meet the individual needs of each child, thereby decreasing opportunities for inappropriate behaviour. All interactions between children and early childhood educators at Reaching
for Rainbows will promote the child’s development of a healthy and positive self-concept. Children will learn, through interactions with their early childhood educators, other children and his/her environment, that he/she is capable of success and self-control. All interactions at Reaching for Rainbows, including those that guide behaviour, will provide the children with learning experiences
and opportunities to develop an understanding of moral values and a sense of security.
Appropriate and consistent limits will be established, based on the children’s ages and developmental
needs, in order to ensure a safe and healthy environment for both the children and the early
childhood educators.

Reaching for Rainbows’ early childhood educators will incorporate many effective methods of
encouraging acceptable behaviour by:

• Providing a sufficient number of interesting and developmentally appropriate activities
• Giving advance warning about transition times so that children will know what to expect
• Being aware of the environment and interactions occurring within the classroomand redirecting negative or inappropriate behaviours
• Providing reinforcement for all positive behaviours exhibited by the children, in order to promote the children’s understanding of what behaviours are expected andencouraged
• Allowing children to make choices as often as possible; however, teachers willmake expectations clear when it is not a matter of choice
• Using proximity and touch to remind the children that they are available to help them through a difficult situation
• Providing clear, consistent and appropriate limits based on the children’s needs and developmental levels, thereby helping to prevent confusion as to which behaviours are expected and appropriate
• Providing age appropriate explanations, for the limits that have been established; promoting the child’s development of independent self-control
• Providing reminders of the established limits, thereby clarifying and reinforcing those limits and preventing the need for disciplinary intervention
• Consistently modelling appropriate and acceptable behaviours, such as respect for others’ personal space, using manners and abiding by the same limits, as have been established for the children, thereby promoting acceptance of these values
• Ignoring minor incidents, as long no individual is at risk, in order to prevent negatively reinforcing an inappropriate and unacceptable behaviour
• Focussing on the behaviour rather than the child and establishing clear limits in a positive and specific manner. This helps to acknowledge that the child is loved and accepted as he or she is and can promote a clearer understanding of what the child should be doing; preventing possible resistance or defensiveness
• Recognizing that “time-in” is much more effective than time-out and time out should be used onlywhen absolutely necessary to maintain safety of any child or group of children
• Abiding by the principle that use of threats and/or any form of corporal punishment ona child, under any circumstances, is detrimental to a child’s development of trust and respect and is cause for immediate dismissal

If there has been an incident involving your child at any point in the day, you will be notified. All information and cooperation from parents is appreciated when trying to determine the cause of a child’s behaviour; parents are, after all, the “experts” on their child. We, as teammates in your children’s early childhood care and education, appreciate your support in helping us help your children to develop into confident, respectful and caring individuals.

DISCHARGE

Our educators are trained to address a variety of behavioural issues common among young children. Occasionally, however, situations arise that are out of the ordinary or, due to a variety of reasons, become unmanageable.

This can be a very unpleasant situation to deal with for both parents and staff and therefore, please understand that every effort will be made to meet every child’s varying needs and abilities. We will make every effort to provide quality interactions and behavioural interventions to prevent situations escalating to the point that discharge is necessary.

You will be informed, and asked to sign an incident report form, should your child demonstrate behaviour, or take actions, that result in another individual being harmed. Examples may include, but are not limited to: hitting, shoving, kicking, biting, name calling.

In many cases, while unacceptable, these behavioural incidents are fairly common among young children and, to some extent, are “age appropriate”, if you will. On occasion, however, circumstances may arise, which we are either unequipped to manage or have exhausted all our resources to correct the situation. Should this occur and a child’s inappropriate actions, behaviour or consistent failure to follow center rules of expected behaviour be deemed to place any individual or group in ‘danger’ of physical or emotional harm, the following actions will be taken:

After the first incident, the parents will be contacted and the problem discussed and a course of action decided upon. The child will be spoken to by the staff of the center at the time the incident occurs and discipline administered. The parents will be asked to review the behaviour with the child at home. Documentation will be placed in the child’s file.

After the second incident, the parents will be contacted immediately by the staff to discuss the situation and the child will be redirected according to center policy. Documentation will be placed in the child’s file along with a written summary of the discussion held with the parents of the child.

If a third incident occurs, the parents will be contacted and asked to come to the center and remove the child from our care. Documentation will be placed in the child’s file and payment would be due only for services rendered to the point of discharge.

COMPLAINT/GRIEVANCE

It is our goal to deliver quality and excellence in the care of your child and his/her early learning and development. Positive comments or suggestions are welcomed and may be made to the director or any one of our educators.

We always welcome any input and feedback, offered constructively, to assist us in achieving the highest quality care and early learning programs for your child(ren). If you have any question, concern or suggestion, please consider it, not only your right, but also your responsibility, to bring it forward to the director or your child’s educator. We want, not only for you to ‘feel better’ about any concern you might have, but also to have the opportunity afforded us to make, whenever possible, any necessary changes or adjustments that you feel may improve the quality of programs offered at Reaching for Rainbows.

1. Speak with the educator involved with your child.
2. Allow follow up from the educator to you.
3. If you are not satisfied with the resolution of your concerns, please make an appointment to speak, personally, with the director.

Please note that all comments, concerns or questions directed to staff members will be relayed to the director, to ensure that she is aware of any issues or concerns. If a complaint is made, the director will listen carefully to the issue and will make every attempt to resolve the problem. Should you still have concerns after having addressed them with Danica, you may contact Lorraine Kennedy, our quality assurance monitor with the New Brunswick Department of Education and Early Childhood Development; responsible for licensing and consultations with registered early learning centres in the greater Moncton region. Lorraine can be contacted at 533-3642.

Should a mutually satisfactory resolution not be possible and, as a parent, you decide to remove your child from the centre, the two week notice of departure, or payment in lieu of, will remain in effect. Under rare circumstances, at the director’s discretion, this policy may be waived.