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Editors' Note: One of the main goals of early childhood education is to support children's social and emotional development-helping them grow into caring friends and attentive students. For some young children, the transition from home to schooleven a warm, playful preschool-is tough. Preschool teachers devote a huge amount of their time, energy, and love to easing these transitions and improving children's behavior. As this article shows, sometimes a little celebration of progress is just what children, and their teachers, need.
The sky outside the preschool office windows has turned gray and gloomy. Thunder rumbles in the distance as Ms. Donna enters on a Thursday afternoon, hand in hand with 4-year-old Brady. I wonder, Now what?
In the two months that Ms. Donna has worked in our early childhood center, I have watched her interact with the handful of children who display the most challenging behaviors. I can tell Ms. Donna loves what she does, and she's good at it. But it's a difficult, often thankless job.
Two or three times this week I've walked past Ms. Donna sitting with Brady in the hallway, quietly speaking to him, trying to calm him. In class, Brady often becomes overwhelmed and frustrated, lashing out by hitting, kicking, yelling, throwing things, and sometimes even running out of the classroom. Ms. Donna regularly encourages him to make better choices and teaches him how to take deep breaths to calm...