Early childhood education is not an easy task to undertake. Dealing with young children who are just in the process of developing presents a hard path for teachers and childcare professionals to navigate as they try their best applying teaching strategies to young minds.
As early learning educators try their best to provide the attention to all children in their care, there may be situations where they unintentionally apply methods that may have an unintended consequence on a child’s mind.

Here are 5 teaching mistakes that can easily be overlooked.

Books as punishment

Time-outs are a usual method of punishment early childhood educators use on young children. As young children get rowdy and unmanageable, sometimes teachers have no option but to enforce timeout as a punishment. However, when young children are told to go read books as a form of punishment, it unintentionally correlates books to negative feelings.
As children know they are being punished, they start to associate books with punishments instead of a way to learn. This then leaves children with a negative view of books and reading as they cease to see it as a way to learn more about the world, rather it’s now an activity that deprives them of fun and leisure.

Mandatory sorry

Children hurting each other accidentally or intentionally is a common occurrence in childcare. However, forcing children, especially toddlers, to say sorry when they hurt another child doesn’t help them learn the true meaning of the word. Instead, explaining to a child why a situation warrants an apology by telling them how their actions could have affected their peers or classmates can help them understand the social situation. Guiding them and teaching them the next appropriate course of action can then make the incident a teachable moment where they learn that saying ‘sorry’ is not a mere balm to soothe the offended party but a heartfelt apology to mend relations.

Using the term ‘friends’

Forcing young children to consider all their classmates as friends can have a detrimental effect on how they view friends and friendship. While teachers are meant to be friendly, they are also the children’s educators and guides as they develop. This means they need to also be authoritative, not authoritarian, and that requires young children to view their teacher as a source of authority.

Limiting toy variations

Toys to adults can easily be categorized and used according to its intended function. However, to children with active imaginations, a toy truck can also double as a tray or moving vehicle for food items. As children think outside the box as a norm, teachers and caregivers should let children exercise their imaginations instead of preventing them from exploring other possibilities from the toys they are provided with.

Forcefully move a child

Transitions are one of the most conflict-heavy and trickiest parts of the day for any ECE teacher. As young kids can be strong-willed, they may have a harder time giving up on an activity they are currently doing and enjoying. Sometimes, children, with their still developing sense of adventure, can do some risky moves like climbing a fence or reaching a high point. At this stage, a teacher might have no choice but to remove the child in a risky situation to avoid accidents.
However, children can be quite stubborn which sometimes can test anyone’s nerves, most especially a teacher who’s dealing not only with one but perhaps 5, 10, or 20 children. While moving a child can sometimes be the last resort, letting them know for the first or few times with a verbal warning can help the child be alert and know their actions are not favorable or safe.
To reduce the instances where forcefully removing remains to be the only option, teachers can give young children choices as they transition from one activity to another.