Building Those Relationships

I was recently reading and article called, Building Positive Relationships with Young Children by Dr. Gail Joseph and Dr. Phillip Strain. In the article they were talking about how critical it is to build good relationships with children. That is one of the most important ways to avoid negative behaviors in the classroom. I liked their metaphor of a piggy bank. Every time you engage in positive relationship building with a child it is like making a deposit into their piggy bank. However, when we nag or criticize a child, we make a withdrawal. Teachers and caregivers should ask themselves, "Am I making a deposit or a withdrawal in this child's piggy bank." Turning the negative (a withdrawal) into a positive (a deposit) will go a long way to continue to build that solid positive relationship (a full piggy bank).