Our team at A Child’s Academy places a great deal of emphasis on helping the children we care for have the necessary resources for prime childhood development. ACA is Alachua County’s top provider of professional child care services. If you’ve been looking for Gainesville after school and summer camp options you need look no further than ACA. Our programs offer children a vast amount of activities that encourage both scholastic and social development. While working with some of the younger after-schoolers earlier this week we touched on addressing the concept of Respect. After asking the group to think about what respect means, I noted the pensive look on several of the children’s faces before one of the five-year-olds responded: “I can’t explain it.” Giving the child and the rest of the group a smile I moved toward giving the children several examples of “respect” as demonstrated through the actions of others.
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While you may notice some children struggle to put into words what the concept means, most children have some idea of what respect entails. Respect is a trait that as parents and educators we want to help instill in the children we care for. There are several actions we can take in order to help the children in our lives better understand and implement the concept of respect. The staff at a Child’s Academy understands that when it comes to helping children develop social skills teachers and parents must work as a team in order to achieve the best results from these efforts. Our Gainesville after school professionals are committed to helping the children in our care have fun and learn while respecting and feeling respected by others. The following are five techniques you can use to help teach your child the concept of respect. These are methods that our Gainesville after school counselors have applied when teaching such concepts to help better instill them.
Five Tips for Teaching & Instilling Respect
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Set the Example
Children watch the way their parents, teachers, and caregivers interact with the people around them. When children are making these observations the are making subconscious mental notes of your behavior in order to fill in the gaps of what behavioral expectations really are. When children see parents and teachers interacting respectfully they are much more likely to follow the modeled behavior.
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Have a Discussion
As your child gets a little older it’s important that they have discussions with parents and teachers about what are the right ways to treat peers and other people in general. As a parent children will look to you to determine what the expectations of respect for others are. Having a clear discussion about the how to be respectful is a very proactive move from a developmental perspective.
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Practice Taking Turns
Asking for and giving turns is an important skill for children to learn, practice, and refine. In a previous blog post, we discussed some techniques on helping improve your child’s communication skills and covered teaching “turn-taking”
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Help Determine Polite Responses
Even before children begin vocal communication they are taking in vasts amounts of information and attempting to develop meaningful connections between these observations. It’s important to use polite language around your child even if “they can’t talk yet.” Once your child begins to communicate vocally you can steer them in the proper direction by teaching them phrases such as “Thank You,” “Excuse Me,” “Yes Ma’am/Sir”
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Reward Respectful Behavior
Whenever you notice a child that you are teaching a concept to it’s important to praise them when they demonstrate that taught behavior. By giving a child specific praise when they’ve made a good choice in regards to respect you help reinforce to that child that you want, expect, and admire that type of behavior.
A Child’s Academy is the number one provider of Gainesville after school, Summer camp, preschool, and VPK programs. If you are looking for a child care provider who places a great deal of value in helping your child’s social and academic development then contact our team today.
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