Defusing difficult situations
You will need to redirect behaviour and defuse difficult situations.
The best way to handle a difficult situation is to get in early and avert it before any tension arises. Here are some appropriate strategies:
- Reposition the child or their things.
- Divert their attention by getting them to do something else. This removes the child from the situation.
- Encourage children to solve the problem themselves.
- Remove the stimulus that is causing the problem.
- With older children, you can negotiate a little, for example, by offering them a choice of alternative activities. (Just make sure you keep control; "negotiate" does not mean that the children run the childcare centre.)
Phoebe sat next to Sam painting a picture, but they started to argue. Tina stepped in and got them to describe to her what they were doing. She then got Sam to move to a table so they both had more table space and their very own pots of paint. To make sure they settled into their painting, Tina checked what they were doing more frequently for the next ten minutes.
If you have to be direct, you’ll get the best effect by establishing eye contact and using a quiet, even tone of voice with a low pitch. Your body language should indicate that you are giving the child your full attention. Calmly and clearly repeat your instructions or directions, and discuss any misunderstandings to clarify them.
You can only use physical restraint if the safety of a child is at risk. If you do, you should fill in an incident report immediately afterwards. Cybertots has strict guidelines on physical restraint. They are based on laws that require you to ensure the safety of everybody involved: the difficult child, the staff, and the other children.
It’s important that you maintain equilibrium while managing inappropriate behaviour. This will be easier to do if you feel in control of your group, have seen cases of difficult behaviour before, and understand the children in your care.
However, some children are still very frustrating. If you start to lose your temper, hand over to someone else and leave the room. You can ask other staff for help if you feel that you are losing control of the situation or don’t know what to do.
Do’s and don’ts
- Do avert problems as early as possible.
- Do give positive rather than negative directions as much as you can.
- Do use positive solutions that leave children happy.
- Don’t lose your temper.
- Don’t use corporal punishment in any way.
- Don’t make children feel humiliated.
