028 Develop Positive Relationships with Children

Develop positive relationships with children, young people and others involved in their care. 028 Outcome 1: Be able to develop positive relationships with children and young people. A/C1; Positive relationships with children and young people are important as it has a huge effect on the way we can work with them. When a child is being left into my room in the morning I would go over to greet the child and lift them and make them feel secure. When the child trusts me it helps them to feel comfortable with me, making it easier for them to be separated from their parents.

If a child feels emotionally secure they are more likely to participate in play and learning activities unlike a child that sits and cries for their mummy, I would try and bring the child into activities that I know that they enjoy. For example a child in my room was upset and wanted their mummy, I went over to the child and asked her “would you like to play with the sand. ” The child was happy to as it is her favourite activity. Children are less likely to show unwanted behaviour if they have strong relationships as I can recognise and meet their needs.

The more a child feels confident talking to me it will help their language to develop quicker. I can plan more accurately as I understand a child’s developmental needs and know their interests. I am able to respond to children more effectively because I can recognise their expressions and emotions. The Principles of building and maintaining relationships are as follows: Communicating effectively is one of the most important aspects of building a relationship. The way we do this depends on the child’s age and stage of development.

I also use facial expressions, body language and gestures. Identifying and sorting out conflicts and disagreements fairly to maintain the child/young person’s trust. I indentify the difficulties and help them to find ways to overcome them. I would always be consistent and fair as children rely on this. Consistency means not only keeping behavioural boundaries in place but to make sure the staff are not excitable one day and then quiet and withdrawn the next. Showing respect and courtesy helps the children to copy our actions.

For example when I hand out toast at break time I would always say `thank you` when I place it down on their tray. I always speak in a warm and friendly tone, and bend down to their level. Valuing and respecting individuality as each child has different strengths, talents and attitudes; by doing this I show that I am comfortable with their differences. Realising that a child has certain interests and building upon them. For example a child in my group loves Mickey mouse so I brought in a Mickey mouse teddy that helped him go down to sleep easier at sleep time.

Keeping promises and honouring commitments are very important as children/young people need to know that can they rely on me. I have an understanding of confidentiality as this is essential about trust and respect. I need to know when it is ok to breach the confidentiality, aware that there may be a threat. I would never pass on anything said in private, do not gossip because once the breach of confidentiality is broken all trust is then lost. A/C2; Observed A/C3; Building relationships with children and young people change according to the age and stage of a child.

It is important to think about their needs and interests. How I would respond to a 12 year old boy would be different to a 4 year old. Building relationships with babies is an absolute necessity as babies need to form an attachment or bond with the early years worker to make up for them missing their parents. The term `key person` is what the EYFS use to describe the role of a person who will take care of the baby or child and develop a special relationship with them. Constancy is important; babies can make more than one attachment although they do need to have one strong relationship.

It is important to try and encourage children to develop strong relationship with other staff so they feel comfortable and secure if the key person is absent. By holding or cuddling a baby this helps to build strong relationships as the baby feels wanted and reassured. Children under the age of 3 years need strong attachments to one person as the still stress over their parents leaving. This can happen during the settling in period. For example a new boy joined our nursery, at the start mummy stayed with him and he sat on her knee and I slowly introduced myself.

Next day mummy had informed me that he loved play dough, so after bending down to the child’s level I asked would he like to help me get the play dough table set up. He followed me, giving mummy time to leave the room. The child was fine until he turned round and noticed mummy had gone. He cried, I offered my hand out and said not to worry as mummy will be back soon. I said to the child about making star shapes to show mummy. Mummy came back in after half an hour. As the week went on, by the end the child came to me, we got his favourite activity and he was distracted.

Now he comes into my room without stressing about mummy. I have always enjoyed working with children. I have three children myself and when they were in primary school I would have been a parent helper. I also became a reading partner. I have an understanding of how to approach children, I always smile and I always appear approachable. For instance if a child in my room appears sad, I would go over to where the child is, when I know the time is right I would give eye contact with a smile. I would then ask if there is anything the child would like to do, maybe do a painting or read a book.

I always want the children to feel that they are not being excluded. I improve on building my relationships with the children by communicating with the parents. I work two days a week, I have been told a few times by different mummies that their child has missed me, one child in particular kept saying “go to gems, see weese” the child’s mummy laughs and says that her child continuously tries to say my name “weese for Louise” I could do more by attending courses on how to understand relationships etc.

I can always learn from communicating with my colleagues on how to sort out conflicts. 028 Outcome 2: A/C1; Positive relationships with people involved in the care of children and young people are important as the child’s welfare can be properly monitored, plans for the children`s care and education are more effective and children are given consistent care. Good communication with everyone in the workplace is important; it is also essential to ensure that colleagues work well together and can share our skills/ideas and gain information with each other.

Everyone should work together to meet the needs of the children in the setting and find out what their interests are. If colleagues do not have good relationships then it may cause bad feelings and a divide between colleagues. It may be the case that you will all not work well together and are not able to share information, and then the parents and children may suffer. It is important to have good communication with the children in the etting as this ensures you will have a good relationship with them which will help them feel more comfortable when they are settling in or provide reassurance during transitions in their lives as well as supporting them in their play and learning. Good communication is needed to ensure that information is passed on correctly to the families that will benefit the children. Also if the parents see that you have a good relationship with the children it will help them feel more relaxed and helps them to trust us to care for their children. A/C2; Observed