Daycare Instituting a "Traffic Light" Punishment System

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My DD goes to a preschool (it happens to be Montessori) where discipline is done very, very well. There are consequences for poor behavior, but usually it involves a "chill out" during which time the child is removed from the situation and brings him/herself to calm. Children are taught to explain and reason about how they feel and what they do. The teachers are warm, but they are very clear that their task -- and the task of the young children -- is to learn to be effective and polite members of a group.

There is no "traffic light" system in place. There is no public behavior chart or humuliation. The idea is that children have a limited but expanding set of coping, self regulation and socilization skills, and teachers are to be sensitive to that (create environments that aren't too taxing for kids) and to help children develop skills they need.

If a child is going through a particularly challenging phase (as all kids eventually will, often several times) the Ts will communicate this with the parents and talk about how it's being handled. For example, my DD was having trouble respective other people's space, hugging too hard and too often. Another child was/is very shy and withdrawn in big groups, although he is socially functional one on one. A third child is extremely bright and a bit bossy, interrupting other children as they are figuring things out she already understands.

Not a big fan of public behavior indicators.

12:29 here. This is appropriate for the age group, OP.

[Anonymous]

The 2.5 and 3 year olds I have taught would not have been able to understand that type of system, as much as I would have loved them to. Elementary school kids, yes, but 2.5 years old? No, not appropriate.

[Anonymous]

There is a big difference in using a system like this in elementary school and using it for 2-3 yr olds. It's totally developmentally wrong to do so. I'd run fast, OP. Find yourself another daycare.

[Anonymous]

I'm going to take a guess and say this program isn't for the children so much as the parents. When I worked in daycare (many moons ago) one of the biggest frustrations was attempting to talk to parents at pick up about poor behavior. The majority of parents flat out didn't want to hear it - basically one foot out the door as we'd be talking and lots of "yup, yup" but you could tell they weren't really interested in hearing about it. (Had one parent say one time, well that's your problem when he's here.) Soooo maybe the "public shaming" isn't for the kids but for the parents to be embarrassed and address the behavior. Just a thought.

[Anonymous]

Wildly inappropriate and I would be concerned about what other wildly inappropriate goings-on were going on at that daycare. I would never choose to send any of my dc to a preschool or daycare using that approach. I would be pissed that they are implementing this after you are already signed up.

The only behavior system with scientific research to back it is positive behavioral support and incentives. That requires a lot of sustained effort and attention from caregivers. Red/green/yellow is so much easier, even though totally wrong-headed and pointless. If they want to communicate a child's challenges/successes each day to their parents, they should be filling out daily note sheets with detailed observations. Difficult with a high ratio of workers to kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm going to take a guess and say this program isn't for the children so much as the parents. When I worked in daycare (many moons ago) one of the biggest frustrations was attempting to talk to parents at pick up about poor behavior. The majority of parents flat out didn't want to hear it - basically one foot out the door as we'd be talking and lots of "yup, yup" but you could tell they weren't really interested in hearing about it. (Had one parent say one time, well that's your problem when he's here.) Soooo maybe the "public shaming" isn't for the kids but for the parents to be embarrassed and address the behavior. Just a thought.

My thoughts exactly and I think this why so many parents dislike the system.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm going to take a guess and say this program isn't for the children so much as the parents. When I worked in daycare (many moons ago) one of the biggest frustrations was attempting to talk to parents at pick up about poor behavior. The majority of parents flat out didn't want to hear it - basically one foot out the door as we'd be talking and lots of "yup, yup" but you could tell they weren't really interested in hearing about it. (Had one parent say one time, well that's your problem when he's here.) Soooo maybe the "public shaming" isn't for the kids but for the parents to be embarrassed and address the behavior. Just a thought.

My thoughts exactly and I think this why so many parents dislike the system.

This is a good point. OP, do you get the sense their was frustration growing about discipline? Sometimes parents complain, and the school needs to show they have a proactive system in place.

[Anonymous]

My daycare does this system, but without any punishments attached to it. It is a way to communicate with parents about kids' behavior. The kids (age 3 and 4) don't seem at all humiliated by getting a red, but they do at least talk about trying their hardest to have a good day and have a green.

[Anonymous]

I think you're right - it's human nature to prefer one kid over another, and a problem child is probably not going to be a teacher's favorite. That said, I'm definitely not comfortable having that preference widely advertised to other parents, and if my child needs extra incentive to behave better, that should be a private conversation between me, my child, and the teacher. Other parents may not pay attention to the bad marks, and the other kids may not care too much that my kid is being denied snacks, but it would make ME feel awful and it would almost certainly make MY CHILD feel awful, so the fact that other parents don't really care is not particularly comforting (although you're probably right - although I'd probably be a little nosey and glace at the marks other kids were getting - that, too, is human nature).

The problem that I see with the system is with the other kids, as opposed to the other parents. I don't think it is a good idea to draw the other childrens' attention to whether a kid is a "problem kid." Yes, they will somewhat notice on their own, but there's not a need to reinforce it so that the child's peers come to expect certain behavior from him/her.

[Anonymous]

Withholding food as punishment - even if you label it a "special treat" - is prohibited by licensing.

[Anonymous]

Has worked for us - helped the children to recognize various levels of intensity. Then the teachers worked to help the children learn the locations and times appropriate for the various levels of intensity.

The traffic light was really more of a continuim. You could be all green, mostly green, a little yellow, very yellow, a little red, very red. And the children participated in placing their markers on the "stoplight." Done in this manner, was very valuable to our DC's growing self awareness.

[Anonymous]

I'm one of the posters who really doesn't like the idea, but it sounds like some parents have had positive experiences and that some parents appreciate their schools' implementation of this or similar systems. I guess I'd have to see it in action, and see how it made the kids and parents feel in practice, to really make up my mind. While I understand that parents of older kids are saying this is what we should expect in public school, my kid is still really little and I'm paying his current school to take care of him, so we're not there yet. This would be a really hard sell for me and I would expect a very well thought out explanation from the teachers and director before I would buy into it. Go with your gut.

[Anonymous]

We were at a nursery school that used this system for 3 yr olds and it was a disaster for our son. He didn't respond well at school and became competitive and anxious about his "status" and we never had problems with him before beyond the normal preschool/toddler occasional tantrums and whining. At home we disciplined using natural consequences which worked/still works for him. When he started preK using responsive classroom as a behavior management system his behavior dramatically improved (which is closer to the natural consequences approach).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:(Had one parent say one time, well that's your problem when he's here.)

Well, the parent was kind of right. Kids who are very young need to be taught RIGHT THEN AND THERE. A two or three year old doesn't come home after six to ten hours in day care and then get "disciplined" for what happened at lunch time. It doesn't make any sense.

If you communicate a discipline issue to a parent, you should be communicating first and foremost what you're doing as a teacher/school to address it and help the child grow and developand cope. You can ask the parent what the child is like at home to see if there is continuity. As I'm sure you know, chldren are sometimes different at school and at home due to different situational stressors and supports.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:(Had one parent say one time, well that's your problem when he's here.)

Well, the parent was kind of right. Kids who are very young need to be taught RIGHT THEN AND THERE. A two or three year old doesn't come home after six to ten hours in day care and then get "disciplined" for what happened at lunch time. It doesn't make any sense.

If you communicate a discipline issue to a parent, you should be communicating first and foremost what you're doing as a teacher/school to address it and help the child grow and developand cope. You can ask the parent what the child is like at home to see if there is continuity. As I'm sure you know, chldren are sometimes different at school and at home due to different situational stressors and supports.

+1