A Child's Place maintains written policies that guide our approach to major issues and provide a common understanding of many practical and safety related issues. Our policies reflect current state and federal regulations as well as best practices in early childhood educaiton. We suggest that all parents become familiar with our policies and we encourage you to contact your child's head teacher or the Executive Director if you have any questions. Our programs and policies reflect the contributions of all involved and are updated regularly to reflect parent feedback as well as changes in state and federal regulations and best professional practices.

DISCIPLINE

Our Philosophy

A CHILD’S PLACE believes that discipline is not punishment nor is it something you do to someone. Discipline comes from the word: “Disciple” - someone who learns from someone else.

Discipline provides an opportunity to assist the child in developing socially acceptable ways to express needs and emotions. This is done through compassion, caring, sensitivity, and most of all helping the child to understand that mistakes are a natural part of growing up and not a sign of being a worthless person. In this way the child is helped to view and value him/herself as a human being.

Affirmation is the key to good discipline. What we do and say to children helps them develop and internalize self-control, self-respect, self-esteem, and self-confidence. Praise makes children feel good about themselves, and it tells them that others have recognized their appropriate behavior and hard work. Words and actions of praise, encouragement, and affirmation are abundant in our interactions with children.

The foundation of discipline is TRUST. The development of basic trust must begin during the early childhood years. This is accomplished by the Child’s Place staff through consistency in actions and responses; maintaining a calm and reassuring tone of voice and manner (body language); providing body and eye contact - being close enough to touch and hold. It also means showing respect for the child’s choices or decisions; providing a physical and emotional climate that offers safety founded on a knowledge and understanding of the individual child and child development, and lastly, setting appropriate limits.

We adhere to the belief that teachers can best guide children when they themselves provide positive role models. Children are constantly observing us. They know what our feelings are, as well as what our intentions are. They learn a great deal about how human beings behave from the way we behave towards them, towards ourselves, towards other people.

Our Principles for Guiding Children's Behaviors

1. When we wish or need to interact with a child we go to that child and get down to his or her level. We recognize that speaking from across a room or from four feet above is usually ineffective.
2. We provide choices or options when possible. We do not provide children an option when the outcome is something the child needs to do. Limitations are a part of life that children must at times expect. They are, however, presented in ways that allow children to maintain their dignity.
3. Positive directions are used when we want to stop, or change a behavior. In this way we let children know what they can do, not just what they cannot do. For example, “You can throw the ball when we go outside.” Not, “Do not throw the ball indoors!”
4. When we want to modify a behavior we stay on the child’s track as far as possible. For example, if a child is banging on the piano keys with a wooden spoon, the spoon banging will be redirected to a lump of playdough or an empty box. We will encourage the child to bang on the piano with his or her fingers. In other words, we let the child continue the activity in an acceptable way.
5. When we explain reasons for changing a behavior we deal with logical consequences, not global labels. If one child is hitting another we ask them to stop hitting because hitting hurts. We do not say “it is not nice to hit.” This is done in recognition of a child’s need for tangible cause and effect explanation, not value judgments.
6. Commentaries whether positive or negative are directed at the child’s actions, not at the total child. For example, rather than say to a child who has poured paint on the floor: “You are a bad boy to have done that”, we will phrase it: “When you pour paint on the floor it makes a mess and I do not like it. Now let us get a sponge.” Or praising a child we might say: “You did such a careful job of cleaning up. You hung up the smock and washed the brushes.” Rather than saying: “What a good boy for cleaning up.” We try to keep commentaries about actions very specific.
7. Children are guided through the process of orienting rather than directing. Some examples might be:

Orienting	Directing
The bikes go against the wall.	Put the bikes against the wall.
The napkin goes in the trash.	Put the napkin in the trash.
There is one more block under the chair.	Get the block from under the chair.

Our principles of discipline are based on respect, honesty, trust, and caring, It is what we do for and say to children to help them develop and internalize self-control, self-respect, self-esteem, self-image, self-confidence, self-determination, self-awareness, and an awareness of the needs and rights of others.

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