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The question as to whether pre-school children react better to persuasion or authority is an ancient debate. People can feel fairly strongly on this subject.

It’s something many parents ask about at our Nollamara childcare centre.

How our Nollamara childcare centre sees the reality of children

One of our strongest values is that children cannot be discussed in terms of ‘one size fits all’. Each is an individual and a given child’s reaction to anything may be different to any other child. It’s also the case that typically children’s behaviours are highly variable day-by-day, so a child’s reaction to a situation one day may be quite different to the way they’ll react to the same situation another day.

This shouldn’t be a surprise. We know as adults that our moods are variable. Something that we find highly irritating on one occasion might be something we’d simply shrug off and pay no attention to normally. We also know how our reactions to others around us can be influenced by many things, such as our personal relationships, health, the weather, how much we’re enjoying what we’re doing at a given time and so on.

What this means for children in a childcare centre

The inevitable conclusion from this is that there is no template or manual for how to get the best out of all children at a given time.

There are many generalities and tendencies that professionals in our Nollamara childcare centre know and understand well but the most important point to grasp is that each child needs to be understood and reacted to each day or sometimes part of a day. What works well with a child on a Monday might be less effective on Tuesday, meaning different approaches need to be adopted.

The role of persuasion

No responsible teacher or care provider wishes to ‘rule with an iron rod’ as the old saying goes. They are keen to work with children as they develop and mature to help them develop and explore the world around them.

Extensive studies have proven beyond serious doubt that the most effective way to help children to grow and develop their full latent potential is through engagement. That essentially means providing an environment where their attention is constantly voluntarily and enthusiastically given because the activities they’re engaged in are interesting and stimulating.

That is something which is easily said but which can also be quite challenging! That’s why we are proud that our personnel and structures deliver exactly that in our child care centre.

Authority

As adults, we recognise that life is often a case of balancing our own personal needs and inclinations against the sometimes conflicting demands of the wider social environment we live in. In other words, we often have to adjust our behaviours and personal wishes in recognition of the fact we don’t live in a bubble but rather a social group.

That is a realisation that children need to learn and with appropriate help, they usually do so from a very early age. However, sometimes, that major developmental milestone requires a degree of surrounding authority to help children to understand the complex interactions required to be both an individual and a member of a wider cooperative social group, such as a family or class.

Inevitably, this introduces the notion of needing at times to make one’s own wishes subordinate to the wider group and its authority. Almost all children accept this and learn it very rapidly, usually with only limited recourse to authority in the form of direction and sanctions – as in the use of the ‘quiet corner’ and variations thereof.

Visit

This is a complex subject but one that our Nollamara childcare centre is expert in.

If you’d like to know more, why not call for an appointment to come down, have a look around and discuss just how we balance persuasion with authority?