Beside home, childcare center/nursery and kindergarten will be another option to help parents nurturing their child. As a caregiver/teacher, we need to be observant to our children who are under our care. We need to understand each child and their individual needs. We need to understand each child and their individual needs. Nurture them like our own!

Whether you are a parent or caregiver/teacher, imagine that the girl in the following story is your daughter, how do you feel, what is your action and what would you like the caregiver/teacher of your daughter to act?

Last year, I newly joined a kindergarten and I was given a group of 4 years old. I noticed a very thin little girl in the group. She was special from others as she cried every morning after the parent left; she didn’t socialize with her peers; she didn’t participate during play time or group activities; she didn’t eat her lunch. Most importantly, no one gives her any attention. I asked the teachers to gather more information about her behavior, the following was what I received :

• She loves to cry for no reason.
• She is very pampered by the parents as she is the youngest in the family.
• She has been behaving like this since she joined the school few months ago.
• Leave her alone, you can’t do anything with her. We’ve tried!
• She is acting to get attention. She’s fine.

I continued observing her behavior. I found that she withdrew from other children and adults. She would be observing her friends from far. She was a loner and didn’t communicate in school. However, she has a very strong pincer grip and enjoyed coloring as well as drawing. She has a very good concentration and fine motor skills.

She was displaying one of the challenging behaviors that we can spot in children - withdrawal from peers and adults! Our observation is to recognize the behavior in order to take proper action to deal with it. She needs attention and support from the adults to help her overcome her situation instead of let her be! I took the following actions every day for two weeks :

• I invited her to help me set up the environment when she reached school. I would tickle her and joke with her. Then we would sit together and do some coloring/drawing. I would say good work once she finished a task and her help to set up the environment for other children. Progress: She stopped crying in the morning. I managed to bond with her and she started to talk a little.

• I sat beside her during lunch time after settled other children. I would feed her and tell her story about the African children who has no food. I would show muscle and asked if she wanted to have strong muscle like her daddy. She nodded. So I told her she has to start eating her food in order to grow her muscle. She would be choosy with food sometimes, then I would remind her of the African children. Progress: She started eating in the school and at home on her own.

• I took her hand and walked with her in the playground. We talked about the flowers and butterflies. At the same time, tried to engage her with other children in their games. Progress: she would join the group to playground instead of staying in the classroom by herself.

Throughout the period, the senior in the school criticized my action stating that I was showing favoritism and spoiling her instead of helping her. I doubted my own action initially as she has more experience than me, but I told myself “I trust my instincts to nurture my child when she is in need!”. Her improvement and changed of behavior are the biggest gift I have had. As she became happier and felt secured in the environment, she started to open up to the environment within a month time. She made friends with two girls in the group and they become close friends. She went out to the playground and participated in activities. She started socializing with others in the group as well. Her mother told me that she was now looking forward to go to school. Most importantly, she was happy and enjoyed her school life!

The biggest satisfaction in teaching will be - “when we give a little attention to the child in need and the little act is able to give a huge positive impact in one’s development!”. Shall we start nurturing our child with love and patience? Yes!

Do you like the article? Join NurtureOurChild community by subscribing via RSS Feed on the top right of the page! (What’s this?)