Does your child's preschool have a discipline policy?

[Anonymous]

My son is 2 and at his preschool, there seems to be no discipline policy. For example, his teachers tell me that the kids are not allowed to climb on the stage in the big indoor hall. Seems like a good rule however they don't seem to do anything if my son tries to climb up there. They just tell him to get down off the stage. My son isn't an idiot and quickly figured out that the teachers won't do anything about him not listening. They just repeat themselves and then do nothing. At home, if he doesn't listen to me after me telling him something one time, he goes to his room or the corner for a few minutes and then has to do what I asked. It works well. It is frustrating that there seems to be no consequences for not following the rules there. My son is all about testing the limits and while he is starting to understand how things work at home, he is continuing to do what he wants at school b/c he knows he will get away with it. He isn't a bad kid but I think his teachers are beginning to think so. Does your child's preschool have rules and consequences? It seems like an obvious thing to me to have.

[Anonymous]

Actually, I think that it's not at all "obvious" that a preschool should have a policy of punishing a 2 yr old with a deprivation of privileges for violating a rule. Not every adult thinks this is an appropriate consequence. Personally, I'd be pretty heated if my kid's school put him in a corner for swiping his neighbor's apple slice.

I do think the better-run schools have written policies for undesirable behavior, so that all the teachers are on the same page and both parents and administrators have a framework for expectations, in black and white. Does your school have a handbook you can check?

[Anonymous]

My daughters school does not punish the children at all (no time outs, etc), they work through conflicts and breaking through the rules by talking to the children and redirecting their attention

[Anonymous]

Same here as PP- they call it positive discipline. I avoided preschools with timeouts since that is not what we are using or want to use. Basically, a very important question to ask .

[Anonymous]

I've had my son in two preschools and neither "punished" kids. In both schools, everything was about positive reinforcement and constant redirection when a child is not following the rules. I have always been impressed with how well the kids listen and no one ever raises their voices.

This year, my son in in pre-k (same location as his most recent preschool). They just started using a green, yellow and red sticker approach. When behavior is good, they get a green smiley face. For not so good, it is a yellow face with a straight line mouth. For not listening, it's a red face with a sad mouth. This is the same system that is used in my other son's elementary school, so my little one is getting accustomed to it before he actually starts school.