Shifting the Balance
In an article in Young Children, Emmy Werner makes these suggestions for teachers, neighbors, coaches, social workers, community workers, police, and others who spend time with children:
- Accept children’s temperamental idiosyncracies and allow them experiences that challenge, but do not overwhelm, their coping abilities.
- Convey to children a sense of responsibility and caring, and in turn reward them for helpfulness and cooperation.
- Encourage a child to develop a special interest, hobby, or activity that can serve as a source of gratification and self-esteem.
- Model, by example, a conviction that life makes sense despite the inevitable adversities . . . each of us encounters.
- Encourage children to reach out beyond their nuclear family to a beloved relative or friend. (Werner, 1984, p. 71)
Excerpted From:
Excerpt from Challenging Behavior in Young Children: Understanding, Preventing, and Responding Effectively , by B. Kaiser & J.S. Rasminsky, 2007 edition, p. 46.
© 2007, Merrill, an imprint of Pearson Education Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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