Positive Guidance: A Guide for Early Childhood Educators

As an early childhood educator, you know that children are always learning—and making mistakes is a natural part of that process. But how can you respond to challenging behavior in a way that fosters growth?

Using positive guidance is essential for helping children learn self-control and develop healthy social-emotional skills. This guide will walk you through what positive guidance is, why it's important, and practical strategies you can use in your classroom.

What is positive guidance? 

Positive guidance is a supportive framework designed to help children develop social skills, emotional regulation, and appropriate ways to express their feelings. It is a proactive approach used by parents, educators, and other caregivers to foster a nurturing environment where children can thrive. Positive guidance involves both indirect and direct strategies to encourage growth.

For example, educators can incorporate positive guidance indirectly into their classroom management techniques by choosing an effective layout, establishing consistent routines, and setting a list of classroom rules for all children to follow.

Direct guidance builds on these rules and routines by focusing on an individual child and helping them learn appropriate behaviors through verbal instruction and expectations, logical consequences for negative actions, redirection, and problem-solving. 

Positive guidance vs. punishment

It's important to understand that positive guidance is not the same as punishment. While both address a child's actions, their approaches and outcomes are very different. Punishment focuses on penalizing past behavior, often leading to fear or guilt. In contrast, positive guidance focuses on teaching future behavior, helping children feel secure and understood.

Here’s a simple breakdown:

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Why is positive guidance important? 

Using positive guidance is a crucial part of early childhood development because it doesn’t just focus on correcting children’s behavior at the moment. It also promotes future growth and teaches key concepts like self-control and responsibility and how to make thoughtful choices. 

Punishment or verbal communication that insults or belittles children is more likely to cause them to view their caregivers negatively, which can inhibit learning and teach them to be unkind toward others or themselves.

Proper guidance can help preserve children’s self-esteem and dignity and can even help uncover more significant problems when responding to children who are displaying challenging behavior, such as problems they are experiencing at home, underlying health issues, or social, emotional, or developmental challenges.

6 effective positive guidance strategies

Here are six practical positive guidance strategies you can implement in your classroom to encourage appropriate behavior in young children.

1. Use positive phrasing

Tell children what to do instead of what not to do. This frames requests constructively and helps guide them toward the desired action.

• Instead of: "Don't run," try: "Please use your walking feet."
• Instead of: "Don't yell," try: "Let's use our inside voices."

2. Set a calm and supportive tone

Your tone of voice can communicate more than your words. Use a soft but firm tone to give instructions. A calm approach helps children feel safe and more receptive to your guidance.

3. Offer meaningful choices

Giving children choices helps them feel a sense of control and encourages cooperation. This is especially effective after giving a direction.

• Example: After saying, "It's time to clean up," you can ask, "Would you like to put away the blocks or the books first?"

4. Redirect challenging behavior

When a child is acting out, redirect their energy toward a more positive alternative. This helps them learn safe ways to express big emotions.

• Example: If a child is hitting out of anger, you might say, "It looks like you feel angry. Instead of hitting, you can hit this pillow or squeeze this stress ball."

5. Time your guidance for impact

Knowing when to step in is as important as knowing how. If a child is overwhelmed, give them a moment to calm down before discussing their behavior. For actions like hitting, immediate guidance helps them connect the consequence to the action. 

6. Observe and document each child's needs

Every child is different, and your guidance for each child should be as unique as they are. Regularly observe and take notes on children's interests, triggers, and abilities. Tools like brightwheel's daily activity report can help, as it enables educators to easily record activities, share real-time updates, and create learning portfolios for every child in their classroom. 

Positive guidance policy

Creating a positive guidance policy and effective behavior management strategy for your classroom can go a long way to reducing disruptions and minimizing challenging behavior. 

• Set clear and consistent rules for your children. These rules should be communicated clearly to all children and reinforced regularly. 
• Provide age-appropriate items for children to interact with. This includes toys, books, and other playthings. 
• Create an encouraging environment. Focus on saying “yes” whenever possible and appropriate. Also, use positive language and supportive tones when offering guidance or instructions. 
• Make safety a priority. Ensure that your classroom or other learning environments are safe and worry-free for all children. 
• Follow a daily routine. Creating consistency helps set clear expectations for children and gives them a feeling of autonomy over the choices they make. 

Positive guidance examples for common scenarios

Let's see how these strategies work in real-world classroom situations.

• Instead of: "That's not nice! Give it back and say you're sorry."
• Positive guidance approach: Kneel down to their level. "I see you really want to play with that truck. Your friend is using it right now. When they are finished, it will be your turn. While we wait, would you like to build with these blocks or draw a picture?"
  

• Instead of: "You need to come to the circle now or you'll be in time-out."
• Positive guidance approach: "It's time for our story. You can choose to sit next to me or on the blue cushion. Which spot sounds better to you?"

• Instead of: "It's just a little spill. Stop crying and clean it up."
• Positive guidance approach: "I see you're upset about the spill. That's okay—it happens to everyone! How about we grab some paper towels together and clean it up?"

Conclusion

Positive guidance is more than a technique—it's a mindset that transforms your classroom into a supportive and caring environment. By consistently using these strategies, you support children to develop self-control, responsibility, and strong social-emotional skills.

Remember, your guidance helps shape thoughtful, confident, and capable individuals, one interaction at a time.