Code of Conduct

It takes a Village…

Here at CDC we strive to provide each child with a safe and secure environment. Children explore their world and demonstrate a variety of behaviors in an effort to develop self-identity, test their boundaries and learn how to interact with the world. In a preschool setting we are working on skills appropriate to your child's development, such as separating from parents, appropriate interaction with peers, starting and stopping an activity, transitioning to a different activity, and manners. This is, of course, in addition to everything else like skipping, coloring, letters, numbers, tying shoes, etc.

Our experienced staff notes behavior at typical ages …

1-2 year olds… stranger anxiety… stops activity in response to "no"… follows simple commands… test parent and caregivers reactions… enjoys an audience… strong independence… brings or takes objects when requested.

3 - 6 years olds… cooperative play… separates from familiar person… follows rules in a group game with adult help… likes to play with others… shares and takes turns… developing a longer attention span… follows routines.

At CDC, we are able to deal with typical behaviors by demonstrating positive interaction, praising good behavior, offering choices, clearly stating our expectations at a level the child can understand, re-directing to appropriate activity, intermittent rewards, removing a child from an activity when inappropriate behavior is displayed, removing a desired activity from a child, and time-outs.

We also note that there are many factors that can affect behavior such as illness, hunger, tiredness, stress at home, a new house, new job, new baby, etc. We rely on staff and parents to clearly communicate and work together to assist each child.

At times, parents and staff may discuss strategies that may be appropriate at home and at school. We count on parents' efforts at home in assisting with behaviors. We also recognize that home and school are very different environments and behavior strategies may not be able to be implemented equally.

We deal with difficult behaviors on a daily basis including biting, pinching, spitting, hitting, kicking, pushing, rough housing, throwing, crying, tantrums, destruction of objects, screaming, taking others toys, not listening, and general defiance.

As stated previously, we strive to provide a safe and secure environment for all children. With parental assistance, we attempt to resolve all behaviors within the preschool setting.

When typical strategies do not provide resolution, a behavior plan is no longer effective, or there is lack of parental support, the family will be provided a 2- week notice of termination of services.