As children develop, they learn the skills to be polite, cooperative and helpful. Along the way, it is the duty of parents and daycare providers to encourage and support appropriate behaviors. Two childcare experts give excellent tips for reinforcing good behavior in toddlers.

Suzy Martyn, Parenting Consultant, Speaker, and author of Enjoy the Ride: Tools, Tips, and Inspiration for the Most Common Parenting Challenges provides the following suggestions:

1. Model the desired behavior. If a toddler sees the behavior naturally in a parent or teacher, they are much more apt to do it when directed so.
2. Encourage and affirm. It takes 7 positive statements to make up for a negative one so our children need to hear much more praise in order to accept any direction.

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Children usually feel unhappy because they think that they can’t do something that other kids can or that others do not like them. To work on this, greet the other children in the center when you drop off your child so that they will start coming up to you and your child to say hello. Make plans for playdates with the children from the center as the more involved your child becomes with his or her peers, the less likely they’d feel inferior or disliked.
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When one of the kids under your care starts mimicking behaviour that you don’t like and realizes that it he have learned it from other kids, take care not to criticise the other child. You have to realize that this kid probably admires the kids or a quality that the child has.
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Nobody likes a whiny child and a chorus of them can be unbearable. If you have a group of kids in your daycare who constantly whine, this can provide a lot of stress and can be a true test of your patience. Most of us would prefer tantrums over whining any day of the week. If this is a constant struggle in your daycare, you need not worry. There are ways where you can restore balance and harmony to your daycare without resulting it resulting to a lawsuit.
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