Adult roles in early childhood development

We might take for granted the ways in which we support young children navigate the everyday stresses and challenges of life. Helping young children deal with stress can be as simple as providing a comforting hug, distracting them with a fun game, or talking about how they’re feeling. You might not even realise how beneficial this kind of responsive caregiving is for young children!

• Parents and caregivers, what would you do if your little one loses their balance and falls on to their bottom, while learning how to walk?
• Teachers and other practitioners, what do you do if a child becomes upset when their caregiver leaves after dropping them off in your care?

Sometimes children might need a bit more help and support to combat the negative effects of the bigger, scarier events they might face.

In the next two steps, you can choose the discussion board that best suits your role to share your thoughts with other people taking this course. For each reflection board, you’ll find some questions to get you thinking about how you can support the young children in your lives through times of change or stress. You can share helpful tips and tricks that have worked for you, or perhaps things that haven’t worked for you, and help each other expand on these ideas. You can also take a look at the other discussion board to find out more about the roles of other adults with children in their lives!