Essay about Developing Positive Relationships with Children

Submitted By SJFISH
Words: 1403
Pages: 6

Unit Title: Develop Positive Relationships with Children, Young People and Others Involved in their Care.

Outcome 1 – Be able to develop positive relationships with children and young people.

1.1: Explain why positive relationships with children and young people are important and how these are built and maintained.

In order for me to work effectively with the children/young people within my setting establishing positive relationships with them is paramount. Developing relationships will take place over time but if you are welcoming, reassuring and approachable from the onset the more rapidly this is likely to occur. I believe the quality of the relationship that I have with the young people in my setting impacts largely on the way in which I am able to work with them.

Children and young people that are happy, relaxed and confident in my company will normally find it easier to separate from their parents/carers, make them more readily willing to trust me, encourage them to want to spend time with me and to participate in the play, learning and development opportunities that I provide them with. This will promote feelings of mutual respect and will enable me to strengthen their independence skills and self-confidence. Having a positive relationship will hopefully allow me to understand their needs better, support and encourage their development and assess their progress, then in turn respond appropriately to their needs and wants as an individual. Contrary to this a child or young person that feels uneasy or insecure around me may develop feelings of anxiety, leading to a negative effect on the relationship building, thus ultimately creating adverse effects on their overall well-being.

Children/young people develop emotional competence when they have positive interactions with the adults taking care of them, observing these relationships shapes their expectations in relation to how people treat each other. Children who develop secure relationships with one or more adults are more likely to develop positive social and emotional skills. They will acknowledge the adults they are able to rely on to meet their needs and seek them out for comfort and support, in response to this the child/young person will become more confident and secure within themselves.

Having put foundations in place to establish a positive relationship with a child/young person there are many things you will need to do in order to build and maintain it. Within my job role maintaining positive relationships with the children/young people has to be at the forefront of my practise. Warren Park operates a key working system which allows for the opportunity of stronger, more secure relationships to develop between a staff member and a child/young person.
It enables me to make myself more available to them and gives me more frequent opportunities to provide time for them to communicate their wants and needs and to design and develop appropriate communication profiles in order for them to be heard and understood. This will then enable me to establish when changes need to be made to documents relevant to the child/young person such as their care plan, behaviour support plan or risk assessments as I am more likely to be aware of when changes have occurred or need to be made with regards to their wants, needs and development. It provides me with sufficient time to interact with them and their parents/carers not just within my setting but through other services they may be accessing, such as school. This will in turn show them that I have a desire to cultivate and develop our relationship.

In order to fulfil my duty of care to the children/young people I encounter on a daily basis it is imperative that I strive to be a good, positive role model. I should always be aware of my own behaviour and act fittingly and with respect. Being constantly considerate of their right to make choices or be involved in decisions that might affect them, and being mindful of