How the Child Thinks and the Way the Teacher Reacts
Remember, “When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became an adult, I put childest ways behind me.”
Do you remember your childhood days? What were they like? Then you talked and thought like a child. What were they like? Now as an adult and experienced, you still have to talk and think on a child’s way of thinking in order to teach and share. It’s not an easy job! When we react to children through our experiences in life and the children react back with their experiences that they have had up to that moment, some times conflict and problems occur.
Let’s talk about “patience.”
Webster’s Dictionary states: “having or showing the capacity for endurance: bearing annoyance and pain and without complanint, anger or the like.” Do children have this kind of patience? Can they have endurance? Do they bear annoyance and do it without showing anger or complaint? Do children have patience in their talking, thinking, and reasoning?
How many times have we heard preschoolers express exactly how to use words to express their feelings? They tell it like it is! Children’s emotions are an everyday feeling found in all early childhood settings. It challenges you as teachers to be committed to be more effective and constructive in guiding our children. This is why children in early childhood settings can feel and express anger but not understand it. Their ability to regulate expressions is linked to an understanding of the emotion and the child’s ability to reflect on that emotion is somewhat limited.
Children need guidance from teachers and parents in understanding and then managing their feelings. Remember, children are children and do not understand their emotions at such an early age.
Patience from the teacher’s standpoint must create an environment of compassion and respect. When you’re patient with children, it’s just as though you are saying, “I respect how you feel because I respect you. I want you to be happy and independent because I love you and want the best for you. I want to help you find your own happiness, so I’m going to slow down and take time to clamly assist you.
When you remind yourself that at the end of the day, all of the important things will still be accomplished (showing love being the most important of all), then you can stop rushing, complaining, and start enjoying the ride during the ups and downs of life with the children you teach.
I wonder what happens when we lose our patience? Then how do we find patience? Till next time!