Independence Case

Independence

Toddlers look for independence constantly. Toddlers need to experience power over their surroundings. Toddlers need guidance from adults. This paper will explain how an educator can facilitate the empowerment that Olivia desires from reading the scenario about her on page 66 of the text. (Gonzalez-Mena, 2009)

Creating a developmentally appropriate preschool classroom is a process that emphasizes the whole child. Teachers work to create an environment which meets the cognitive, social/ emotional, physical, language, and self-help needs of the children. Supervised free play is one of the young toddler activities that allow the child to interact with both their peers and the older toddlers in the group. This continues to facilitate the transition from the infant program to the programs geared toward toddlers and older children in the daycare setting. Make sure that Olivia has a variety of things to do once she enters daycare such as free play. In order to develop to their maximum potential; all young children require the opportunity to engage in regular exploration of their surroundings. The first step is to be sure that the classroom environment is safe, free of hazards, and age-appropriately childproofed. Once that is accomplished, an early childhood educator can then proceed to enrich.

Olivia needs to have the opportunity to explore the things around her to see if there is something she wants to engage her play in, once the environment is enriched, children should have as many opportunities for independent exploration as time will allow. Teacher-guided activities set the stage for learning. Children can then play in interest areas that are designed to further develop the concepts introduced by the teacher. Interest areas or centers are specific places in the classroom in which children can explore experiment and make discoveries and connections on their own. Examples of developmentally appropriate interest areas include: literacy area, sand play area, water play area, dramatic play area, blocks/building area, discovery/science area, math/manipulative toy area, library area, and art area. It is vital that the materials available to children are age appropriate.

By letting Olivia make her own choices she will feel the power and control that she is looking for. Building Olivia's self help skills will in turn strengthen her independence. She will feel better and have more control as she masters her self help skills. She will not need to rely on someone else to help her as she learns certain tasks. She will feel accomplished as she masters the self help skills.

Setting limits is important for any age group. Children need to know and understand limits and rules. The need to know what acceptable behavior is and what is not acceptable. When an educator creates limits and rules it will provide control to the toddlers in that classroom. When a child breaks a rule or pushes