Monday

Is Your Caregiver a Positive Caregiver?

The NICHD did a Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development and identified the following key features of quality childcare.

Positive caregiving is a measure of care quality that is based on direct observations of caregiver behavior. Read through the following list and see which skills your childcare provider, (or you) have.

Positive caregiving behaviors include:
 Showing a positive attitude—is the caregiver generally in good spirits and encouraging when interacting with the child? is he or she helpful? Does the caregiver smile often at the child?
 Having positive physical contact—Does the caregiver hug the child, pat the child on the back, or hold the child’s hand? Does the caregiver comfort the child?
 Responding to vocalizations—Does the caregiver repeat the child’s words, comment on what the child says or tries to say, and answer the child’s questions?
 Asking questions—Does the caregiver encourage the child to talk/communicate by asking questions that the child can answer easily, such as “yes” or “no” questions, or asking about a family member or toy?

Talking in other ways—such as:
 Praising or encouraging—Does the caregiver respond to the child’s positive actions with positive words, such as “You did it!” or “Well done!”?

 Teaching—Does the caregiver encourage the child to learn or have the child repeat learning phrases or items, such as saying the alphabet out loud, counting to 10, and naming shapes or objects? for older children, does the caregiver explain what words or names mean?
 Telling and singing—Does the caregiver tell stories, describe objects or events, or sing songs?
 Encouraging development—Does the caregiver help the child to stand up and walk? for infants, does the caregiver encourage “tummy time”—activities the child does when placed on his or her stomach while awake—to help neck and shoulder muscles get stronger and to encourage crawling? for older children, does the caregiver help finish puzzles, stack blocks, or zip zippers?
 Advancing behavior—Does the caregiver encourage the child to smile, laugh, and play with other children? Does the caregiver support sharing between the child and other children? Does the caregiver give examples of good behaviors?
 Reading—Does the caregiver read books and stories to the child? Does the caregiver let the child touch the book and turn the page? for older children, does the caregiver point to pictures and words on the page?
 Eliminating negative interactions—Does the caregiver make sure to be positive, not negative, in the interactions with the child? Does the caregiver take a positive approach to interacting with the child, even in times of trouble? Does the caregiver make it a point to interact with the child and not ignore him or her?

8 comments:

  1. FINALLY~ Glad you are getting it!

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  2. Anyone else having trouble reading the posts??? Its all grey the background.

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  3. Getting- that you needed to raise the bar on your site. Before it was too sleezy and brought down the nanny profession. This new format seems more classy and will be viewed as a more quaility site.
    So I am glad you have changed it and from what you have changed so far, it seems the site will be more geared toward educating parents on what a nanny is and is not. THANK YOU JANE!

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  4. I completely agree with "Anonymous" in that before the website I wouldn't exactly say sleezy...but it defintely talked down on the nanny profession. Thanks so much Jane for making your site more positive!

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  5. This was a website designed to out bad nannies. You're behaving like a democrat throwing a temper tantrum on a republican website.
    You have no right to complain. Sit back and enjoy the ride.

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  6. Everyone has the right to complain. That's like me saying 'you have no right to complain about people complaining'. Sure you do. May be annoying, it's your right. And theirs.

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  7. mom of 3 -

    a: Can we avoid politics? Even with analogies, in today's climate, it isn't a good idea.

    b: Everyone has the right to defend themselves, their profession and things they believe in. Complaining is part of that.

    c: ISYN has grown beyond just sightings.

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