ECE Reflection Two

Reflection Two: Establishing and maintaining relationships with children

Stop

I have established relationships with the children at my on the first day at the centre by firstly making sure that from the minute I walked in the door I had a good attitude and a smile on my face so that the children would feel comfortable with me being around them and in the centre. Then I went for a walk around the centre looking and observing all the different activities and games that were going on. Next I sat beside a group of children that were busy playing a game and introduced myself to them and asked them what their names were then waited in till the children asked me to join in their play. Ever since that day I have been building and maintaining this relationship by slowly getting to know them through having conversations and sharing things about myself with them to try gain their trust. “The learning environment will assist children in their quest for making sense of and finding out about their world if adults know the children well, providing the basis for the “give and take” of communication and learning;” (Ministry of Education,1996,p.43)

I have also tried to make these relationships stronger by trying to implement as much fun in the activities I lead as possible.

Think

I feel I have been very successful in making and maintaining relationships with the children and know if I had more time to get to know them better it could have turned into more of a strong trusting relationship. I can tell the children feel comfortable around me because they often come to me when they are upset or have a problem, this shows that they trust me to enough to tell me what’s upsetting them and help them out. I can also tell I have created a strong relationship with the children when they ask me to play a game or do an activity with them because they know that I will try and make it as enjoyable for them as possible.

Change

I wouldn’t change much about the time I spent with the children and how I established relationships with them. I think my strategy of observing the children playing and letting them come to me worked well and didn’t over whelm too much with there being a new person in the centre. One thing I would change about what I did is taking more time to get to know the children that aren’t as trusting and that keep to themselves.

References

Ministry of Education (1996). Te Whāriki: He Whāriki Mātauranga mō ngā Mokopuna o Aotearoa: Early Childhood Curriculum. Wellington, New Zealand: Learning Media.