Behavior Policy

First United Methodist Church is committed to children learning how to cope with life and real-world situations. Therefore, the goal of our discipline policy is self-discipline. When a situation arises that causes conflict between children or when a child becomes frustrated with a situation, the following steps are taken:

1) The teacher intervenes with the children and tries to help them communicate with one another what they are feeling and how the situation has impacted them. (Ex. "When you took the train I was playing with, that hurt my feelings and made me mad."

2) Next, the teacher will remove the child from the situation and suggest an alternative. (Ex. "Let's play with a puzzles while you wait for your turn with the train."

3) Then the child is reasoned with by the teacher who tries to help the child understand the reason for the rule that was broken. (Ex. "Chairs are for sitting and the floor is for standing. If you stand in the chair, you might fall and hurt yourself.

4) Should the child continue to need intervention after being given opportunities to get redemption, the child will be removed from the situation and placed in time-out. Time-out starts with two minutes or less. Additional time will be added should it become necessary.

During conversations with children regarding discipline situations the following guidelines are used:

* Children are never embarrassed or humiliated in front of others. Conversations are as private and discrete as possible.

* Corporal punishment is never used, nor is snatching, pulling, or yelling.

* On rare occasions it might be necessary to remove a child from the classroom due to extreme disruptions. An adult will always be with them and will work toward successfully re-entering that child into the routine of the classroom.

* Withholding of food for punishment is not permitted.

* Children are not punished for toileting accidents.

In instances where a child is having ongoing trouble in our program's environment, we will request the family meet with our staff to discuss and work toward a mutual approach to helping the child develop their self control and to having positive experiences at preschool. At all times, staff are required to be in compliance with Missouri Guidelines, which prohibit the use of physical responses, verbal abuse, and humiliation of any type. We request families to follow the same requirement while they are in the school facility.