How does it feel to be a child in your classroom? How many times can you hear someone (not you, of course, “someone else”) yelling at a child, scolding a child, barking orders? Come here, sit down, put that away, etc.

Try this: select an active child, and in 3 minutes’ time, count how many times staff speaks kindly to this child as part of a conversation and how many times the staff orders the child around. You may be very surprised. If you were that child, would you want to be in that room each day? If the answer is no, try a little kindness – in word, tone, volume, and mostly, attitude. I predict major positive change. If you try it, please email us to let us know how it worked out.

If you are the director, next time you visit a classroom, you can try the same exercise. If there are many orders, corrections, etc., you can just time the interval between encouraging comments. I once visited a program and counted 17 minutes between one staff member’s positive comment and the next one – she was not silent for much of that time – the rest of her comments were commands. It was so very hard for me to sit there and not intervene! After I shared my findings, the director was able to work with the staff to create positive change.