Affection Audit

The article "Out of the Box Ideas for Director Evaluation" in the Exchange CD Book, Taking Stock:  Tools and Strategies for Evaluating Programs, Directors, Teachers and Children, contained this suggestion...

"In a recent Exchange survey, directors rated 'abuse accusations against your center' as the threat that concerns them most.  Such concerns have caused many teachers to avoid physical contact with children.

"This, of course, is terribly wrong.  Centers need to head off accusations of abuse by working hard to develop trusting relationships with parents, to encourage them to share even the smallest concerns before they mushroom into big concerns, to assure them that staff are carefully selected and well supervised, and to invite them to visit unannounced at any time.  The worst possible response is to withhold affection from children.

"From time to time, it is instructive to take an affection audit at your center.  Walk around casually and observe how often you see teachers showing affection to children, either by physical contact, body language, or direct communication.  If you see a great deal of appropriate affection being exhibited, take this as a good sign; if there is very little taking place, you need to figure out why and do something about it."

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