Are you having trouble getting your child to transition between activities, tolerate a diaper change, or simply cooperate in his/her daily routine? Children’s early learning experiences are created through their caregivers, requiring the children to navigate their worlds through imitation and by following their caregivers’ specific directions. Around the age of 15 months old, children attempt self-direction and prefer to exercise independence and control. With that said, children often become more defiant of adult direction and may start to experience more difficulties with transitions. As caregivers, we want to make sure we continue to offer children control in order to help them better adjust to the demands placed on them. Below are some suggestions to use for helping your child in a transition process:
- Give your child verbal warnings before moving to another activity (e.g. putting on their shoes)
- For example, give children a two-minute warning before they need to stop playing and put on their shoes. Even though they won’t understand the concept of two minutes, it will get them used to a verbal warning, which will precede the transition. Caregivers can also then give a second warning of one minute, offering the child a total of two warnings in total before they are required to transition.
- Give your child options during the transition.
- Once you begin the process of putting on their shoes, caregivers can ask the children which pair of shoes they want to wear, ultimately offering two pairs that are acceptable to wear. This not only has the children comply with adult direction but also gives them the control back in choosing the options.
Caregivers can apply these two strategies to every transition! It is normal that children will require some time to adjust to the guidelines but stay consistent and changes will come!
Brittany Hill, MS, MSW, LSW, DT