“Choose joy.”
We spent lots of time at today’s Behavior Collaboration meeting discussing behavior management strategies, sharing ideas about “what works” — we’re planning a full day conference for October 2018 and it’s going to be pure awesome, BTW! — and every layer of conversation, every tip and trick, and every success story had one thing in common:
“Choose joy.”
- Choosing joy means celebrating the messy play and noisy voices and running feet, assuming positive intent and providing positive guidance.
- Choosing joy means embracing the tearful separations and the not-sharing and the not-so-nice hands, understanding that young children need time to practice these social skills.
- Choosing joy means prioritizing play and having fun.
- Choosing joy means remembering that nurturing hearts is just as important as shaping minds.
Give yourself permission to choose joy, even in the most challenging moments. You deserve it — and children do, too.
This post was originally published at www.wnybehaviortoolbox.com, a resource for early childhood providers.
