Task 2- Challenging situation

I am using “What, So what, Now what” model

What?

One little boy has decided horses are his favourite thing to play with at daycare, he will carry these horses around and each day its getting a bigger collection to the point of needing a basket to carry around. Out of those horses there are two that are the favourites and will carry those around on their own if he does not have the basket.

When it was time to wash hands this little boy decided he did not want to wash hands because he did not want to put the horses down, a teacher and I got him into the bathroom to wash his hands while the teacher was changing nappies she had me washing the hands. The little boy decided to throw himself about and not want to wash the hands while in the bathroom.

I talked to him about leaving the horses next to him while he washed his hands, also put his favourite horses on the sink so he could wash them afterwards. I turned the tap on for him and washed my hands talking to him to get him to do it too, but no such luck. The teacher in the room with me ended up coming over and having no luck with it either and told him he needs to wash his hands.

In the end I was feeling a little stressed as he is a heavy child when he throws himself around, so hard to hold up to wash his hands so he can have kai. I was trying to achieve washing hands for kai like I was asked to do, in the end I ended up wetting paper towels and washing his hands that way as that was the only way he would allow it.

So What?

The important of washing hands is to teach “self-help and self-care skills for eating, drinking, food preparation, toileting, resting, sleeping, washing, and dressing” (Ministry of Education, 1996, p.48). But it was also important to nurture his emotional well-being with the horses that he is really connected too.

I need to learn more from other staff on what they would do with this child and his horses and what we can do to help him want to put them down to wash his hands, he is happy for kai time with his horses sitting on a chair next to him, but with washing that was not going to happen. I have learnt that some children when they really love something they will not put it down for anything.

It told me that I'm okay to pick my battles until I can get some more help on the situation with washing his hands with a paper towel instead of under the tap. I had so much going though my head with this, of am I hurting him by picking him up and pulling his hands under the water, am I losing his trust as I'm making him do something he really does not want to do. Once I have talked to others about this and worked out a action plan for him, I can research the ideas of it talk to other places that might have an idea like my own plunket nurse without mentioning who the child is and once I have more knowledge I will be able to apply it. Also talking to his family to see if they have the same problems at home.

The broader issues that come with this is he learns if he screams enough he will get away with not washing his hands and get a paper towel instead, this could teach other children this behaviour and start coping, with toys and hands.

Now What?

Now I can keep trying with him and talking to him to get the horses on the floor so he can wash his hands and then take the horses though to dining room. Also can try other ways like washing the horse or singing songs while we wash hands. But overall I think I need to talk with the staff members and work out together what we can do with this little boy as it turns out he does not just do it with me he does it with other staff too.

If I carry on doing it and fighting with him then the other problems with other children watching may come about, and he might stop trusting people when he is being made to do something. If he is upset and not feeling the trust then that is not good for his well being as children need to “trust that their emotional needs will be responded to” (Ministry of Education, 1996, p. 50)

References:

Ministry of Education. (1996). Te Whāriki: He whāriki matauranga mō ngā mokopuna o Aotearoa: Early childhood curriculum. Wellington, New Zealand: Learning Media.