Relationships with Children

Stop

I found that I established and maintained relationships with the children at me centre in basically the same way as I did with the staff, although it was a lot more easier. When I first went into the centre there was a group of children that ran to me and asked about who I am and what my name was. A few children thought that my mummy and daddy had dropped me off just like their parents had done and that I would spend the whole day there with them playing and learning. They asked me my name and how old I was and if my parents had gone to work that’s why I was left there. I introduced myself to all the children and told them why I was there so they so they knew who I was. There were some children that I had difficulties at first connecting with but through the help of teachers and other children, communicating with them was made easy. Another way I established relationships with the children is by asking children if I could play with them and talking to them when they looked like they needed someone to talk to.

Think

I think because I was somebody who was new and different, somebody the children hadn’t seen before it helped with establishing my relationship with a few them. They all would’ve entered into the centre not knowing what was going on and why they were there without their parents, they made friends with those around which helped with giving them a sense of belonging. Because I was new I think the children knew what it was like so they wanted connect with me and be my friend. Alot of the children only spoke Samoan which made communicating with them hard, if they needed something I wasn’t able to make out what it was. The children that do speak English have helped me out a lot; they translate what another child is saying so I can understand. The children thought it was strange at first that I couldn’t speak the way they did or understand them, but once I told them that I was of a different background, they accepted it and would help me out whenever I needed them. I think because I ask for help with translating, the children that can’t speak English feel that even though I can’t speak to them in what they know and understand they can still come to me if they need anything. They feel that I make an effort and this has been great with maintaining relationships with them. Sometimes when children came into the centre in the morning they would bring or wear something that was their favourite, they would come running to me to tell me all about what they had on and why they liked it so much. It made me happy when they did had because it felt like I was someone very close to them, someone had they could share things with. I also got a sense of belonging when the children asked me to join in with the games that they were playing with one another, they would hold my hand and walk me to where they were playing and ask me to act out a character of their choice. I think that overall I was very successful with establishing and maintaining relationships with the children at my centre.

Change

In the future I think to better establish and maintain relationships with the children at any centre that I work at, I should get more involved with them. Be more hands on with activities and organise things myself, things that the children will really be interested in.