Have you ever had a child who despite everything you did, their behavior only continued to get worse? You’ve probably heard stories similar to this: “Drop off was a time of day I dreaded. Adrian would arrive in the morning with his mom and they would read a book together. When mom went to leave, Adrian would storm the door and run out of the classroom. We would have to chase him down the hall. If his mom saw him, she would come back to the classroom to talk to Adrian. At first, we thought the challenging drop off would go away once he got used to being in our classroom. However, it only increased over time with him starting to yell, cry, and throw things when his mom left for work. This became a part of our morning routine to the point of administrators needing to come to our classroom to assist. Each morning would melt down into chaos that disrupted our morning routines. It was a nightmare to say the least.“ I shared this example with you because this is a time when many of us question our abilities as a teacher. I’ve had many similar moments in my teaching career. These moments taught me a lot about working with children with challenging behaviors. They also helped me think about my role in helping the children in my classroom. Looking back, one of the reasons I struggled so much was I didn’t take the time to reflect on the big picture about the challenging behaviors and my role in it. Now, reflection has become a big part of how I plan my response to challenging behaviors. It is also a major factor in my ability to maintain composure and perspective. In this article, I’m showing you how I reflect on the big picture of children's challenging behaviors and adjust my interactions to actually see progress when working with the children with challenging behaviors in my classroom.

Social conflicts are everywhere in a preschool classroom. Children fighting over toys in the block area, calling each other names, saying, "You can't come to my party", and pushing to be the first in line are all common social conflicts encountered by preschool teachers. Learn the 5-steps you can take to conquer these social conflicts and teach children how to problem solve at the same time.

Many teachers have asked me “how do you stop aggressive behavior when you can’t touch them?” This article will teach preschool teachers how to respond to aggressive behaviors so that they can calm children down without losing their composure. Find strategies, phrases, and tools!