It may be important to observe a child but at the same time it may mislead you into being judgmental, to soon. For instance, if you observe a child misbehaving, not getting along with the other children or talking back to the teacher, you might get the impression that he/she is a “bad” child and you might treat and act differently with that particular child.

From my personal experiences, I have to come to the conclusion that it doesn’t always work the way I believe when observing a child. I strongly feel that in order to get to know a child you should not spend most of your time observing him/her. Interacting with the child gives off better results. Not once or twice, this should be a consistent thing.

For example, in room seven we have a child by the name of Thomas which most of us have heard about him. He appears to be very aggressive and angry from what we have observed. Even though the child may be difficult at times, I cannot turn my back on him and give up because of this. We can only observe what lies in front of us. No one really knows what goes on when the child is home with his parents. He might be going through some really hard times with his family and this is how he is coping with it but, we really don’t know and that is why it is very important to ask questions and speak to the child because your observations many.

At the daycare, I try not to let my observations take over a situation. If I see hit Gaspar rather then jump to conclusions and scold Vincent, I talk to the both of them and ask questions, like, “Why did you hit him?” “What made you so angry that you felt you had to hit him?” “How did that make you feel?” so on and so forth.

Observations are very important but it is not good to be judgmental when observing because you may be observing a child who in reality is a good kid but is acting aggressively because he/she is having a bad day and you might just categorize the child wrongfully.


Part #2

1. Taylor is trying to fill a bucket with water. It has a hole in the bottom. He begins to fill it and water dribbles out he gets frustrated and begins to cry loudly.

Taylor feels helpless in this situation and is unhappy that things are not going her way. She needs to know that there are other options. The way I would handle it is by telling her, “ Taylor, there is no need to cry, there is a hole in the bottom of the bucket and that is why the water is coming out. I understand that you might be a little frustrated because you want to play wit the water but let’s not cry. I have a solution, why don’t we go inside and see if we can fix it. If it is not fixable then we can go and look for another bucket so we can play with the water.


2. A new child enters the center and speaks no English. He is crying after his mom just left. How do you communicate what are the expectations of this child to follow the routine and interact.

In a situation like this, I would have to pay more attention to this child because even though he/she may feel alone because mommy is gone, I want the child to feel secure that someone is there trying to meet their needs.

3. Maria is busy playing with the new ride on truck. That arrived at the center. Alison comes over and insists that she wants to ride on it now and pushes maria on the floor.

4. Madrilene parents want her to take a nap. Lately she has been having a hard time going to sleep she gets off the cot talks loudly and is plain restless.