Behavior Management
In The Preschool Years

Behavior management is a particularly useful skill to develop for both preschool teachers and parents of preschoolers. 

Find the answers to these questions and more:

• How can you handle challenging behaviors in a preschool child?
• What is the best way to use positive reinforcement?
• Do behavior charts really work?
• As a parent, how do I handle child discipline?

Environmental Effect on Behavior Management

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According to Merriam Webster's Collegiate Dictionary Tenth Edition, behavior is "the response of an individual, group or species to it's environment." When we are designing our classroom behavior management plan, we must always be aware of how the environment effects the children in our care.

The physical environment must not be too cluttered, too bright, too noisy, or too stimulating, but must be stimulating enough. The social and emotional environment must be nurturing and respectful of children, their families and their culture. 

According to all of the research I have gathered, behavior is a means of communication. When children exhibit challenging behaviors they are trying to communicate something. They are trying to tell us about an object, a person, or an activity they want or don't want. Our job is to figure out what they are trying to communicate and help them find a better way. 

We need to observe and act accordingly. If children are running in your classroom and you feel that the environment is not a contributing factor redirect the children. Stop the running children and tell them they need to do table toys or art for a while. There is no need to be punitive. It is simple. "We don't run, but you can choose something else to do." Try to always give them a chance to redeem themselves. 

Or you might find that certain toys stimulate some groups of children too much. We had some large dinosaurs in our classroom. Every time I got the dinosaurs out the children were pretty wild. They chased each other, screamed, growled etc. 

Then one day when I was trying to think of something new and different to take outside, I thought of the dinosaurs. Perfect! My point is that sometimes we have to think about the role the materials play in our classroom behavior management plan. 

Behavior Management Problem Solving

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Every now and then I had children in my class who pretty much refused to go inside from recess. That can be a real dilemma. The first thing I had to learn was that this was not a contest of wills. Actually it was more a contest of wit. 

I found that I could often outwit those children. Sometimes I could get them involved in a race to the building ending near the entrance door of course. Always remember that if you back children into a corner (so to speak) it can get pretty nasty. Use your wit and come at the situation from another angle. 

If children are having trouble taking turns offer them timers they can get for themselves. I find that children don't mind waiting for timers as much as waiting for a teacher to say time is up. 

If a particular child hits, kicks, bites etc. s/he may need to be taught social skills. The best way to do this is for a teacher to shadow this child as much as possible (especially during free choice). 

Then the teachers can mentor, coach and model appropriate behavior management. Be careful not to create a situation in which the other children are likely to alienate this child from the group. They need to know that this child is working on learning new skills. 

If a child seems to get stressed and out of sorts very easily, teach this child replacement behavior. This should be taught at teachable moments throughout the day, perhaps using positive reinforcement. During a stressful situation is not a teachable moment. You can teach the child to take a deep breath and count to four or to hold up a stop sign or go to his or her special calming spot in the classroom. 

If a child acts out every day at circle time, check to see if the activities are appropriate for this child. If you find a child acting out when you are teaching the alphabet but not during story or music take this information into consideration in your behavior management plan. Can you teach the alphabet at the end of circle time? Maybe the particular child is not ready to learn the alphabet yet. 

In this event give this child the language he needs to ask for a break. Then let him or her leave the group and do an activity you and your staff have predetermined such as table toys or the listening center. (Maybe something that would be a precursor to leaning the alphabet.) 

Behavior Managment Examples

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I had a student one year who just couldn't be ready to go outside when everyone else was. So, we finally realized that this child was very distracted by the other children. We gave her a special place away from the crowd to get ready. She still was not speedy, but did much better. 

On the other hand I knew a little boy who cried every day when he had to take off his snow clothes. But the teachers kept checking on him and telling him to "hurry up." I finally realized that this little boy actually had never been taught how to get his own winter clothes off. Children don't always have the skills we think they have. Don't assume anything. 

I have seen children start acting out as soon as they get in the classroom. Immediately they are faced with a problem when they have to find a name card (no symbol or photo) and move it from one place to another on a chart. 

Why would this upset anyone? What if you went to a meeting where everyone was from China and the instructor told everyone to find their name tags and sign in? I bet you think that you could manage this. What if your name was written in Chinese characters? AND, what if you were not allowed to eat the nice continental breakfast until you had completed this one simple task? 

There was a little boy once that bothered the other children immediately after recess. He even went to the table where food was being set out for lunch and made huge messes. The associate teacher was working on lunch and the other teacher was tying shoes etc. (after the removal of boots.) The teaching staff was somewhat perplexed. 

As they discussed the situation they realized that this child had his snow clothes off and his shoes on, before everyone else and was possibly bored. They also knew that this little boy's favorite toy was Legos. So, from that day on the little guy got his winter cothes off, got his shoes on and went to a special place in the classroom where the legos waited for him. 

Behavior Management During Clean Up

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Clean-up time can often be fairly stressful. Some children may not do much. Others are always doing way more than their share. Don't worry too much about this. Work along with the children. Clean-up is one more skill for us to teach. Some children know what to do and how to do it. 

Others may need a little encouragement every step of the way. "Get the big truck and load up these blocks please. Deliver the blocks to the shelf. Thank you! What a big load. We need another load.etc." 

Some days it seems no one wants to clean-up. I usually asked all of the children to come and sit on the circle time rug. Then I asked for volunteers to clean each area of the classroom. Anyone who didn't volunteer just waited on the carpet. 

But usually as soon as a friend volunteered to clean a particular area the slackers wanted to join them. Another trick is to gather on the carpet then ask them each to pick up ten toys. Then sometimes another ten. 

I am sure you can see repeating behavior management themes here. Observe, look for a child's strengths, don't be punitive, use your wit instead of your power as an adult, be flexible, and teach the necessary skills. It is important that we, as teachers, realize that children are NOT out to get us. :)

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Challenging Behaviors
Positive Reinforcement
Behavior Chart
Child Discipline