Are usually soothed by warm and consistent responses from familiar adults.
Begin to adapt to caregiving routines.
What soothes individual babies and helps them to relax.
Find out as much as you can from parents about young babies before they join the setting, so that the routines you follow are familiar and comforting.
Learn lullabies that children know from home and share them with others in the setting.
Play gentle music when babies are tired.
8-20 Months
Respond to a small number of boundaries, with encouragement and support.
Babies' responses to being praised when they do something you ask, such as loosening their grasp on your hair or face.
Demonstrate clear and consistent boundaries and reasonable yet challenging expectations.
Share information with parents to create consistency between home and setting so that babies learn about boundaries.
16-26 Months
Begin to learn that some things are theirs, some things are shared, and some things belong to other people.
Children's awareness of their own belongings, and those of others, such as when they show they know which is their comforter, or get another child's toy to give to them when they are upset.
Reduce incidents of frustration and conflict by keeping routines flexible so that young children can pursue their interests.
Duplicate materials and resources to reduce conflict, for example, two tricycles or two copies of the same book.
22-36 Months
Are aware that some actions can hurt or harm others.
Responses to stories in which someone could be hurt or harmed.
Help children to understand their rights to be kept safe by others, and encourage them to talk about ways to avoid harming or hurting others.
Have agreed procedures outlining how to respond to changes in children's behaviour.
Share policies and practice with parents, ensuring an accurate two-way exchange of information through an interpreter or through translated materials, where necessary.
30-50 Months
Begin to accept the needs of others, with support.
Show care and concern for others, for living things and the environment.
Children's recognition of the needs of others.
How children show their care for others and the environment.
Share with parents the rationale of boundaries and expectations to maintain a joint approach.
Demonstrate concern and respect for others, living things and the environment.
Set, explain and maintain clear, reasonable and consistent limits so that children can play and work feeling safe and secure.
Collaborate with children in creating explicit rules for the care of the environment.
40-60+ Months
Show confidence and the ability to stand up for own rights.
Have an awareness of the boundaries set, and of behavioural expectations in the setting.
Understand what is right, what is wrong, and why.
Consider the consequences of their words and actions for themselves and others.
Children's understanding of boundaries and behavioural expectations.
Children's increasing understanding of acceptable behaviour for themselves and others.
Children's ideas and explanations about what is right and wrong.
Children's awareness of the consequences of their words and actions.
Be alert to injustices and let children see that they are addressed and resolved.
Ensure that children have opportunities to identify and discuss boundaries, so that they understand why they are there and what they are intended to achieve.
Help children's understanding of what is right and wrong by explaining why it is wrong to hurt somebody, or why it is acceptable to take a second piece of fruit after everybody else has had some.
Involve children in identifying issues and finding solutions.
Make time to listen to children respectfully when they raise injustices, and involve them in finding a 'best fit' solution.
Provide books with stories about characters that follow or break rules, and the effects of their behaviour on others.
Affirm and praise positive behaviour, explaining that it makes children and adults feel happier.
Encourage children to think about issues from the viewpoint of others.
Explaining the rules - In a reception class, a practitioner supports a child to discuss what has upset her and help her understand the need for boundaries. [transcript]
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