Article Link: http://exchangepress.com/article/building-relationships-with-young-children/5016238/
To say building relationships with young children is important seems so obvious as to be hardly worth mentioning �" and that is the problem. It is so obvious that we don’t give it much thought; don’t go into what it really takes to build relationships, and so, don’t often try to fully understand what it takes to build relationships with children. It’s not that we are lazy or don’t care. It’s that the obvious deadens our normally curious nature, and makes us content to simply mouth the truth that building relationships matters. Here, then, I will try to make us uncomfortable about this subject that normally makes us feel downright cozy.Building relationships with young children matters because without relationships, young children cannot thrive. Without relationships, even their physical health is at risk. There is a story about the pediatrician and former physician-in-chief at Boston’s Children’s Hospital, Charles Janeway, who sent a sick child home because the separation, not some medical condition, was what was undermining the child’s health.
However, teachers can’t solve problems by sending children home. Teachers have to build strong positive relationships with children �" and for different reasons than maintaining children’s physical health. Teachers have to build relationships with ...