Thursday Thoughts
This is where we will collaborate on classroom issues.
“A mother of one of my students told me that she and her husband will be getting a divorce this summer. What should I do in the classroom to help my student? I teach the 3 year olds and he is almost 4 now.” June R. Norfolk, VA
What an awesome question. We see how home life impacts our littles all the time! Instead of looking at this as a home problem we will look at it as a life transition.
First off let’s thank this mother for being upfront and letting you know what was going on before it happened. Too often we don’t get this kind of information until we go to the parents with a behavior change. It sounds like you have cultivated a good relationship with your parents already so continue to keep the dialogue open with both parties. Remember that it is not your job to judge the situation or take sides.
The second thing you will need to do is ramp up the love. Each child needs love in different ways so give your little love in the way that makes them feel comfortable. This could be a hug, listening to him talk about monster trucks, back rubs at nap time, extra words of encouragement, etc. The idea is to make sure that he is getting the support he needs from you since the adults in his life will most likely be lacking in their own love bank.
The next accommodation you can make is none at all. What I mean by that is you should keep your classroom as consistent as possible. Your little will have many changes in life at home so you want things to stay the same where they can. If you can keep the room arrangement, schedule, teachers, etc. as stable as possible it will help him with the at home transitions. You want him to have at least one stable locale in his life.
The last thing I’d suggest (I could go on, but us preschool teachers have the attention span of a gnat) is to allow him to talk to you about it on his own time and grieve the loss. He may need extra time in the quiet center (remember that? If not check out this post). He may want to tell you all about his new room. He may not want to talk to you about it at all. Allow him to broach the subject at his own pace. If you have given him love, support, and consistency he will eventually want to talk to you . After letting him confide in you make sure you remain non-judgmental. Simply allowing the child to tell you how he feels is huge.
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