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To explore the concepts of guidance
and discipline
To examine anticipated difficulties
throughout each developmental stage
To identify appropriate guidance
strategies and techniques for dealing
with children of all ages
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To lead or to
show
someone the
way to reach
a goal
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Involves ways of helping children learn to behave
appropriately
Teaches children to control their actions and to make
decisions
Combines support, encouragement, and setting limits
Encourages appropriate behavior and helps stop
problem behavior
Promotes the development of self-confidence and selfcontrol
Needed to keep children safe and healthy
Helps children to like themselves and to get along well
with others. When combined with love and respect,
children develop an inner sense of self-control and selfconfidence
 To train someone physically, intellectually,
emotionally and socially
 When combined with love and respect, it
helps children to develop self-esteem and
responsibility
 Parents, teachers, caregivers and others
train children when they talk, teach, hold and
spend time with them
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INEFFECTIVE
EFFECTIVE
EMPHASIS ON… Stopping
behavior
CHILD OBEYS
Fear
BECAUSE OF…
PARENT’S
Control & anger
ATTITUDE IS…
PURPOSE IS… Suffering & pain
Learning proper
behavior
Love & respect
RESULT IS…
Growth
Dependency
Love
Self-discipline
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 Divert attention
 Set limits
 Offer choices
 Redirect
 Timeouts
 Reinforce behavior
These tools can be thought of as a group of tools
used to help shape children’s behaviors and
their personalities
Tools this powerful are often hard to use
because they take a great amount of practice
 When children have self-control they
know
1. What to do
2. When to do it
3. Can behave appropriately even
when caregiver is not around
 Self-control helps children
 feel safe
 feel confident
 be able to think for themselves
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 Negative tools like spanking, hitting, yelling or
making fun of children tend to
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make them timid and withdrawn or rebellious and
mean
lead children to feel bad about themselves and to
develop fewer feelings of self-control
lead children to question parents’ love and discount
the times they really do want to talk, hold, or spend
time with them
 Constant questioning and discounting of
children leads to discouragement, and a
discouraged child is more likely to misbehave
1.
2.
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4.
5.
6.
7.
Curiosity
Illness
Boredom
Angry feelings
Need for attention or love
Low self-esteem
Anxiety
 results from caregivers who are not familiar with
ages and stages of children’s growth and
development
8. Confusion
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 results if caregivers are not familiar with family
and household rules
 Understanding child
development helps a parent
or caregiver to guide
behavior
 Physical, emotional, social,
and intellectual
development influence
guidance techniques that a
caregiver or parent can use
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1.
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Infants
 What to expect:
 cry when they need something
 want their needs met by their caregivers
 explore their bodies
 curious about everything
 sleep less as they grow older
 learn by using their senses
 play with their food and eat with their fingers
 When babies cry they need something
 If ignored or punished each time they cry, needs
are not met. Therefore they learn to mistrust their
caregivers and think of their world as an unsafe
place.
Diverting attention
babies have short attention spans, so their
interests are easily shifted from item to
item
an example of a diversion tactic is to catch
a child’s interest with a favorite toy if he or
she is upset about something else
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2. Toddlers
 What to expect:
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say “no” to be independent and in control
enjoy “messy” activities
curious about everything, want to explore
begin walking and talking
possessive of belongings, saying “my” or “mine”
take their time eating, dressing and picking up toys
restless; short attention-spans
cry or scream when asked to take turns or share
temper tantrums
 Set limits
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make rules in order to manage children’s
misbehavior
a rule or limit should be clear enough so children
understand what part of their conduct is
misbehavior and how they can change it into
acceptable behavior
 Offer choices
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allowing toddlers to choose between two
activities that are acceptable may be more
effective when they refuse to behave by the rules
allows them to be in control
3. Preschoolers
 What to expect:
o
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o
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many questions
need physical activity
interested in same age friends
exaggerate or make up stories
bossy
say “no” when asked to help
clean up
 Redirection
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suggest acceptable behaviors to replace
misbehaviors
turn a problem activity or action into an acceptable
one
 Time-out
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remove child from activity for a specific period of
time until they calm down, think about what they did,
and realize they will not be allowed to misbehave
a set time in a safe place away from other children,
activities and distractions
be sure to talk to children about how time-out works
4.
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Early school-age children
 What to expect:
o want to please adults, teachers and friends
o flip-flop back and forth – sometimes seeming grown-up,
sometimes babyish, acting differently at home than at
school
o forgetful, messy, creative, and spontaneous
o enjoy playing more than helping
o interested in “right” or “wrong”
o misbehavior often happens when children are feeling
ignored, mistreated, or neglected
o misbehave to get attention- even if the attention is
negative
Threes types of behavior reinforcement
1. Positive: pay attention when children do what you
want
 praise child when you approve of their actions
 spend time with child while they do what you want
2. Negative: pay attention to children when they
misbehave and do what you do not want
 using this method unintentionally teaches children to
misbehave in order to get attention
3. Ignore: pay no attention to misbehavior and attempts
to be noticed
 do not use this method if child is in danger
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Direct Methods of Guidance
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Talk to child at eye level and use simple,
positive directions
Use “do’s” instead of “don’ts”
Prevent child from hurting self or others
Assist child in dealing with conflicts
Give child a choice whenever possible
Demonstrate or model desired behavior
Touch, guide, or lead child by the hand for
further direction
Encourage child with positive feedback
Indirect methods of guidance
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Provide an environment with appropriate
activities to promote acceptable behavior
Encourage independence by providing accessible
behavior
Arrange space of cues regarding appropriate
behavior
Provide a regular routine; schedule activities
according to child’s needs
Provide appropriate adult supervision
 Tell children what they can do instead of
what they can’t do
Don’t
“Don’t drop the egg”
Do
“Carry the eggs in both hands, like this…”
Don’t
“Don’t drag your jacket in the mud”
Do
“Tie your jacket around your waist, like this…”
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 If adults use many negative
words such as no, don’t, stop
it, cut it out, or shut up,
children may decide to tune the
parent or caregiver out
 Too many “don’ts” also cause
negativism in children
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 Caregivers sometimes damage
children’s self-esteem
 Situation
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four-year-old Juan spills the milk
he was carrying to the table
destructive response: “Can’t you
do anything right?”
better response: “That’s a
hard job; we’ll wipe it up and
you can try again”
Situation
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three-year-old Hannah runs away from you in the
store
destructive response: “What’s the matter with you?
You’re acting like a baby; I thought you were a
big girl”
better response: “I need your help
pushing the cart”
 Offer appropriate choices to avoid problem
situations
 Situation
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you are having dinner in a restaurant and have a
limited supply of money
likely to lead to trouble: “What would you like to
order?”
instead, try: “You may order the chicken dinner
or the spaghetti plate”
Try to avoid power struggles between
adults and children
 Behavior
six-year-old Jermain comes home from
school each day and makes a beeline
for the cookie jar, washing down a
handful of cookies with two bottles of
cola from the refrigerator
 Environmental change
stock the cookie jar with graham
crackers and the refrigerator with fruit
juice, yogurt, and fruit
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Working with children instead of against them
helps when meeting the needs of children as
well as caregivers
Situation
eleven-month-old Savannah turns her head away
when offered food on a spoon, if the food is
placed on the tray she dives in with both hands
and eats with obvious enjoyment
Compromise-Solution
put newspaper on the floor, find a big bib and
stand by with a washcloth, let the child feed herself
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 Explain the rules and the consequences for breaking
them
 When children do not follow the rules, follow through
with consequences
Situation
five-year-old Tong is having a screaming tantrum
because he cannot go out to play, he has been sick
and the weather is cold and windy
Setting/Enforcing Limits
tell him you know that he is very mad and
disappointed but he can’t go outside today because
the wind might make his head hurt again, suggest a
card game
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 Disciplining and guiding children is not
easy
 All children misbehave or argue some of
the time
 You can respond quickly when children
need guidance if you understand the
reasons for their behavior and know
your options
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QUIZ
1. What is the purpose of guidance and
discipline?
2. List six tools that a caregiver can use to
guide and discipline children
3. Why do children misbehave?
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4. What guidance technique should you use
with infants?
QUIZ
5. Toddlers are characteristically very
_______ of their belongings and often say
“mine”
6. The guidance and discipline techniques to
use with toddlers are:
a) do nothing
b) set limits
c) offer choices
d) both B and C
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QUIZ
7. Give an example of using redirection with a
preschooler.
8. Early school age children respond well to
behavior that is___________.
9. An indirect method of guidance is:
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10. What happens to children if you use too
many “don’ts”?
New Mexico State University. “Guiding Young Children”. 2002.
http://www.cahe.nmsu.edu/pubs/_f/f-108.html
National Network for Child Care . “Guidance and Discipline- A Developmental
Approach”. 2002.
http://www.nncc.org?Guidance/guide.dev.apprch.html
The Curriculum Center for Family and Consumer Sciences
Texas Tech University. 2002. www.hs.ttu.edu/ccfcs
Additional Websites:
www.kidsource.com
www.keepkidshealthy.com
www.naeyc.org
www.cps.ca
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Treena Aston
Allison Mangold
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Geoff Scott
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CEV Multimedia, Ltd.
Graphic Editor
Lauren Mangold
Executive Producer
G.W. Davis