Increasing impulse control in children
in the child care environment

As with Zoe's story, tales of toddler temper tantrums in the child care environment are all too common. Even the most loving child care provider can lose heart during days when young children seem determined to misbehave!

If your child care center seems filled with children out of control, you may want to consider ways to proactively build impulse control in the toddlers and children in your classroom. Preventing misbehavior before it starts can be less stressful for you and much more desirable in a child care environment, where a chain reaction of misbehavior and attention-seeking behaviors can cascade from one child to many.

Children anger issues: Remember that negative emotions come in all shapes and sizes, and in children of all ages. While it's natural to feel frustrated when a child is acting out, consider that it's often healthier for her to act out than to bottle it up.

Consider, too, all the possible sources for that toddler's behavior. In general, young children experience four emotions: happiness, sadness, anger, and fear. All other emotions stem from these. If you can determine the trigger for her behavior, you can turn to teaching her a skill that she doesn't yet have: reassure her that it's okay to feel angry or sad, show her a good way to respond to that feeling, and help her move herself to a place that's healthier.

Examine your own behavior as well. At times, a child's misbehavior is triggered by the way an adult is acting, and correcting the misbehavior requires the adult to change first. An adult may also be able to change an otherwise out of control situation by deciding to react differently.

Building impulse control in children is not only possible, it's within the reach of any child care provider willing to learn and consistently follow a series of simple steps... steps that make perfect sense in light of the child development studies and brain research behind them.

Kim Hughes, an award-winning educational consultant and child care trainer with decades of successful experience working with young children—and helping others do the same—has written a simple but effective guide on building impulse control in toddlers and children. It's free for the asking.

For more in-depth information and the ability to ask your specific questions first-hand, consider attending one of our child care workshops. Simply choose the best child care workshop for you from this list and contact us to make the arrangements; it's surprisingly easy and you'll be amazed at the difference it can make in your child care environment.

How to Improve Impulse Control in Children (free guide)