205 supporting a child to settle in

[gal4God]

how do i support a child to settle in? what may i have done in my work could have helped a new child to settle in?

[jill]

hi what age group is your question aimed at?

Hi gal4god

I've had to do this many of times within my job helping a child to settle in. regardless of their age it is a good idea for the child to do a few hours a week or 2 before starting for a few days so they get used to setting and surroundings as you may find that this is the first time the child has been to a nursery/pre school setting etc.

It is advised that the person within the room who would be key worker to greet the child and parent/s and to find out more about the child e.g. what do they enjoy doing etc, so this gives you a clear picture of what they are like etc and you also know what to do if they become upset and also if needed to ask parent to fill out profile of child.

you should involve the child in small group activities so they get to know others.

If it is the childs first time being away from parent then maybe you could ask the parent to stay for a while outside of the room out of sight, this then gives parent peace of mind- as no parent likes to leave their child when they are upset, if after a certain time the child is still upset then maybe u could ask the parent to come back in til child is more settled- altho in my setting i used to work in it was advised that the parent was to stay for the first visit or until the child seemed settled and then go and if any problems we would phone them.

sorry if ive gone abit, hope this has given u a idea of what to do etc

[gal4God]

we allow the parent to stay with their children on their first session and their first lunchtime session as our lunchtime sessions are in the school dinner hall when children mainly 8 - 11 are eating their lunch. i work in a pre shool joined on to the school with children aged 3 - 5
i kno that one child came and then left to come back later when she was ready to come.

[tutu]

settling in should be very much at the child's pace. they should dictate how long the parent stays and this should be incorporated into a settling in policy. the things that can help are home visits, parental involvement and good practitioners with a key person who works with the child from day one. any setting who dictates when a child should be settled by as in the one above who ALLOWS!! a parent to stay is in direct contravention of the eyfs which says that a childs needs should be met not the settings or the parents. when one teaches one does tend to assume that practices like this have been replaced by good practice but sadly it seems there are still setting s who operate top meet the needs of the child third over themselves and the parents.
theoretically you need to be looking at attachment theory and how this impacts on our practice.