5-year old acting up in pre-K

[Anonymous]

My son, who just turned 5, has been acting up in his pre-K class, which he attends full-time. It sounds to me like he's overly rambunctious and doesn't always listen when the teacher or other kids tell him to stop. He does listen sometimes, and he's a smart kid. Any advice? So far we've been keeping in close touch with his teacher and giving him consequences at home if he misbehaves.

Thanks!

Eve

[Anonymous]

How about talking to his teacher about creating some type of behavior management contract. Depending on the areas he's having the most difficulty with, something like: "I listened during story time", etc. If he did a good job, the teacher would put a smiley face next to that objective. Given his age, I would limit the "focus areas" to perhaps three items (maybe even break it apart by time of day...morning/afternoon). You would get instant feedback with a "contract" and your son would get positive reinforcement for his good choices. My DS is in kindertarten, and was experiencing some anxiety earlier in the year. We used a "contract" of sorts with him, with focus areas like "I came to school smiling"; "I participated in the morning/afternoon" etc. He was very excited to bring home his chart with stickers. He's not using the contract anymore, but it helped earlier in the year.

[Anonymous]

PP here - My DS is in kindergarten, as opposed to kindertarten...Oops!