Daycare Instituting a "Traffic Light" Punishment System

[Anonymous]

DC is moving at the beginning of July into a new classroom at daycare. It's for 2.5 y.o.s and 3 y.o.s They just started a punishment system where at the end of the day all of the parents can look up and see whose kid was good and in the green, whose was ok and in the yellow and whose was bad and in the red. The punishment for being in the red is missed field trips, loss of snacks, etc.

Our kid has done well at this daycare (downtown center) and we like it a lot, but something rubs me the wrong way about this. Is it just me? DC is 2.5 y.o. and while we think punishment is fine, I'm just not sure about such a public display. Is this typical for preschool classes at daycare?

[Anonymous]

I would presume the children are acting up in class infront of the other children, so instead of the children telling their parents who was bad today parents can just see. I don't see any issue with this, especially if it helps deter any bad behavior for not wanting other adults to see if they had a bad day.

[Anonymous]

I would not like this either.

There should be no public display and missing snacks for that age group is nonsense - the only time my kid acts out badly is when he is hungry! And where would the kid go if excluded from a field trip?? Do they have the extra staff to care for him or am I expect to fill in the care.

This is not a sensible punishment system AT ALL.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would not like this either.

There should be no public display and missing snacks for that age group is nonsense - the only time my kid acts out badly is when he is hungry! And where would the kid go if excluded from a field trip?? Do they have the extra staff to care for him or am I expect to fill in the care.

This is not a sensible punishment system AT ALL.

I don't like the public display idea and agree that missing snacks is likely to cause additional bad behavior for kids this age - but then I don't really like the idea of food being a reward or punishment in general.

[Anonymous]

My son is in that same age group, and they don't do that at his daycare. Personally, I don't think that food (snacks) should ever be withheld for bad behavior. If a child is hungry, he or she is more likley to continue being cranky and acting out. I guess the one thing that I like about it is that it would give me a better idea of what his behavior that day was like (as opposed to "he was ok," which is the current feedback that I usually get.

[Anonymous]

Not developmentally appropriate. Kids that young don't have the long term thinking to get a system like this-and the punishments are ridiculous for kids that age.

[Anonymous]

I don't like the choice of punishments for that age so most of the behaviors are probably age appropriate. But get used to the system since a lot of public schools use it in their classrooms.

[Anonymous]

I'm not sure what I think about the public display aspect. The kids in my son's daycare tattle on each other constantly at pickup ("Johnny got a time out") so obviously they are noticing who is behaving and who isn't on their own. I don't think it is helpful to call more attention to that. I would be ok with a system that publicly displayed positive behavior or rewards earned only, though.

[Anonymous]

Food shouldn't be used as a punishment - are you sure they meant all snacks and not "special" snacks? Such as birthday treats and what not?

As for the "public display", children at that age need to be reminded of how well they are behaving. Once they do something wrong it's not like that stays on their mind for very long. it's a visual reminder or incentive for those children to either keep behaving well, or behave better.

[Anonymous]

My guess is the reason they are doing it is BECAUSE many public schools use this system, and it is part of the academicazation of day care and preschool. I hate the shaming aspect of it (although kids won't understand that their friends parents see it, I don't think) but most hate making everything be about getting ready for school. 2.5 year olds should just be 2.5.

[Anonymous]

OP here - sorry - we just clarified with another parent that it is special "treats" not the daily afternoon snack that would be withheld. It sounds like there are equally split views here. Thanks for everyone's feedback.

[Anonymous]

Withholding snacks is a horrible consequence.

Also that system was instituted in my son's classroom (not daycare). It was awful for him. He is a bit anxious and very much a rule follower. He is a people pleaser and is absolutely devastated by getting in trouble as he links that to people not liking him. So basically when they instituted the policy he spent his entire day trying to be good to make sure he never left green. Even though he had never gotten in trouble before the policy! He stopped talking in class and started isolating himself to make sure he didn't say the wrong thing or be around other kids acting up and he would get in trouble by association. It was brutal. In the end after many conversations the teacher told him he was exempt and that no matter what he did his light would always be green. This helped him relax a little but he still stayed very uptight the rest of that year, pretty much talking every day about the lights and who moved to what color and why...it was his focus beyond all else.Thankfully that was the only year he encountered that!

[Anonymous]

Kids that young don't have the long term thinking to get a system like this

I agree that this is true in a daycare setting. DS's school insitituted a system where kids that listened got an ice pop (in addition to the regular snack) and the kids did not seem to get it at all. For some reason, DS thought that the kids that were getting the ice pops were feeling sick, and he wasn't getting an ice pop because he was not sick.
At home, DS can associate a consequence with something that happened earlier in the day, but at daycare, this system has been a complete failure.

[Anonymous]

Food should never, ever be leveraged as a punishment.

I'd have a problem with the whole system, too.

[Anonymous]

Our kids schools have always used this system and it seems to have worked fine. They were slightly older, so not sure how it will work with little ones, but it seems worth a try! You'll be surprised at what your kids are capable of sometimes. And the public atmosphere is a non-issue for me. Welcome to school!