Wellbeing

ASG 11 Well Being Task F During this task I will demonstrate that I understand how to work with children and young people to support, their safety and well being, within the setting. Where possible I will reflect on my own practices and link my answers to my own experiences. Ways to support confidence and self-esteem: • Use positive language • Take an interest in what’s happening • Listen to children, Respond as necessary. • Use body and facial language to smile, reassure, encourage, gesture. • Recognise efforts genuinely – if something surprises you, raise a question, ask about it, congratulate, and say how you feel. • Support the work being done and work through problems together. • Be available. • Do not judge or pick fault. • Plan new experiences and activities. • Suggest and where appropriate offer alternative ideas. • Value work by finding ways to use and display it. Adults, other children, can damage confidence and self-esteem when negative input is received, this could be comments or not supporting the child. The child’s perception of what a finished product should look like, may not be an adults high expectation, or maybe something going wrong, breaking, not sticking together, falling off can unsettle the most confident child, Supporting these occasions to make sure feelings are protected / safeguarded involves only giving good encouraging comments. You can also support self-esteem and self-confidence by allowing the child to lead any new ideas, seeing if it works or not. 1. Explain why you feel it is important to support resilience in children and young people. Discuss how you achieve this at your setting. Consider activities or experiences you could introduce. Resilience is important because it is the human capacity to face, overcome and be strengthened by or even transformed by the adversities of life. Day in and day out, children face situations, which are difficult. Some face stresses such as divorce or illnesses while others confront catastrophe – war, poverty, disease, famine, and floods. Whether such experiences crush or strengthen an individual child depend, in part, on his or her resilience. It is important to support children during these periods to ensure every child is given an equal chance to learn and progress. In our setting we make sure we are aware of any issues, If the child is having difficulties we meet with the parents to help the child achieve their best. A plan of action is written up and signed by parent and teacher. All information is kept confidential. Our school help students develop resiliency by providing a positive and safe learning environment, along with setting high, yet achievable, academic and social expectations. Parents can visit their child’s school or call and talk to the teachers and administrators about their expectations for their child. A teacher is the most frequently encountered positive role model outside the family, and a caring relationship often develops between student and teacher. Teachers who offer trustworthiness, sincere interest, and individual attention and who use rituals and traditions in the classroom are often the determining factor for whether a child opens his or her mind to learn. 2. Explain why it is important to work with children or young people to ensure they develop strategies to protect themselves and to make decisions about safety. Children need to learn to protect themselves, but at the same time you need them to take their own risks if there is no chance of significant harm. They need the knowledge and the know how to protect themselves. Some strategies to help children may include • Speaking to them and reinforcing about dangers and what to do if they feel threatened. • Make sure your child knows who is picking them up from school / club and that they don’t just go off with anyone, even if they are a friend. • If someone is hurting them to yell, or go and tell the teacher as this is unacceptable. • Explain that all their body belongs to them and not anyone else. If anyone tries to touch them in a way that’s not right, they must tell you and not keep it a secret. • Reinforce what is allowed and what is not allowed. • Do not accept money, sweets or gifts from anyone without your parents/ carer’s permission. • Providing time to discuss any issues freely and in confidence. • Use their mobile phone / gadgets when needed in public and not to keep them on show. • Not to accept lifts off of strangers. 3. Give three examples of ways of empowering children and young people that allows them to make positive and informed choices that support their well being and safety. Give reasons for your answers explaining why you feel these are of benefit. a) If you were teaching a child about road safety, firstly you would show them how to cross the road by holding their hands and explaining how to look both ways and for cars coming. Once you felt they understood this, you would move onto crossing the road without holding onto them, then crossing with supervision and eventually allowing them to cross alone. This will benefit the child by being able to cross the road safely. b) To help a child read, you need to start at the basic phonic knowledge, using sounds and actions. Once this is achieved you can work on blending sounds to recognise common words then eventually giving the child empowerment to read independently. This will benefit the child by be able to make the right choice and feel they can achieve something by themselves. c) Every child learns through stages play. The stages of play include being a solitary person to parallel play then eventually engaging in play with others then becoming a friend. Help them understand boundaries by reinforcing issues when they arise in a positive manner. These stages will help benefit the child by becoming a good role model and friend.