Since I work in an early
childhood setting, I decided to observe a child communicating with another
adult in a different environment. While I was at the park with my grandson, I
noticed several other young children with adults so I chose one to observe.
With this observation the child I focused on was trying to gain the attention
of his mother. She was talking with another mother and not really talking to
him at first. Finally she stops and asks what it is that he wants. She does not
seem too happy but she gets up and takes him over to the swings. She tells him
she is not going to push him for long and that he needs to find something else
to do. The boy does not say anything to this but you can see how happy he was
to be on the swing. After she is done pushing him, she tells him she is going
to sit back down. The boy waits until the swing stops and then jumps down and
runs off.
What I noticed the most is that
the mother seemed more interested in talking with the other mother than her
son. The communication was not very often or long before she left and went back
to the other mother.
Lisa Kolbeck,
from the media segment this week, discussed how young children should not be
closed off while speaking. She also stated that children communicate in different
ways, many times using their bodies to help with their communication. From the
observation that took place in the park I believe that the mother could have
tried listening to her son a little more and that she could have taken the time
to allow him to express his wants and needs. The mother could have also engaged
more in play with her son at the park also so that he could have felt more
important and respected.
I believe from what I observed
that the child did not feel important and he was disappointed not only with not
having the communication that he tried for, but also not being the center of
play with his mother. As for myself, I know that I communicate better than what
I observed, however there is always room for improvement. I try to engage in
conversations with my children to get them to tell me more. Open ended
questions are a huge part of the day. One problem that I have is the amount of
time spent with each child. In the video segment this week, two girls were
shown talking with Kolbeck. That would be great but I have 17 children and I am
not able to get to every child like that on a daily basis. One thing that I
would love to do is spend that kind of time communicating with each child and
help them with their play. I found that the way she just kept helping them
along with their by adding tools they needed to be the animals was great. This
was a great learning experience for the children because they were not just
discussing things about owls and cats, they were doing living it.
Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2011). Communication with your children [Video
webcast]. Retrieved from https://class.waldenu.edu/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_tab_group_id=_2_1&url=%2Fwebapps%2Fblackboard%2Fexecute%2Flauncher%3Ftype%3DCourse%26id%3D_4066646_1%26url%3D
Hi Elizabeth,
ReplyDeleteThough my observation was in a store and not in the park, and the mother was on the phone and not talking to someone face to face, both mothers still were busy communicating with someone other than there children. They both seemed to get annoyed because their children persisted with trying to get their attention, It seems to me that if you take your child to a park, it is to be expected that they are going to want to spend time with you. Likewise, if you take your child to the toy section of a store without having explained the reason that you are there, expect them to see and point to things that they want. Adults and parents sometimes get so wrapped up in other things that children, at times, get overlooked. We must learn to communicate and effectively listen and respond to children. Doing so will show them that we care and that they are important to us.
Oops... should be..other than "their" children. There should also be a period after attention and not a comma. I think my eyes are tired!..smh
DeleteHi Elizabeth,
ReplyDeleteI have noticed that, more times than not, whenever I have seen an adult with a child or children in the marketplace or out and about in the community, it appears that their communication style with their child is very lacking. It’s as though that whenever they are out, they are on a mission to get something specific done and the children are only with them because they didn’t have another option of leaving them anywhere else. They seem to really get annoyed with the child when the child is trying to get their attention or trying to make their wants and desires known. Whenever I witness this, I feel so badly for the children because you can see the hurt and disappointment in their little faces. I be hoping that this type of communication is not typical for this child on an on-going basis.