Adults only punish children for overtly dangerous behavior. Children are praise for their accomplishments and helped to feel increasingly competent and in control of themselves. Children and their parents are greeted warmly and with enthusiasm each morning. The day begins with a great deal of adult-child contact. Adults help toddlers settle into the group by reading books or quietly playing with them.
Adults model the type of interactions with others that they want children to develop.
Adults recognize that most of the time when toddlers are aggressive, hurting, or biting other children, it is because they lack skills to cope with frustrating situations such as wanting another child's toy. Adult voices dominate or adults do not speak to children because they think they are too young to respond. Adults are impatient and intrusive. They expect too much or too little of toddlers. Or adults allow children to become frustrated by tasks they cannot do.