There’s Got to be a Better Way: Discpline that Works

As I shared in my last post, I began by journey with Becky Bailey by reading her first book, I Love you Rituals.  For more information on the previous post, click here.

The next book, I began reading is There’s Got to be a Better Way: Discpline that works.  One of the things I love about Becky Bailey and her work is that she believes learning these techniques is a learning process for both the children and the adult.  She believes it is a process that needs to be read about, reflected upon, attempted, reflected upon again, and perfected in order to make the techniques and strategies work.  I believe, like Dr. Bailey, that it is important to teach the children the expecations.

During a training on a guidance that I went to, the speaker shared “if a child did not know how to read, you teach them.  If a child doesn’t know how to do math, you teach them.  If a child misbehaves you….”  We were then asked why is it so difficult to finish that statement?  A child is learning their surroundings, the expecations, and their own autonomy.  As an adult and especially a teacher, we need to take each moment and use it as a teachable moment.

Click on the link below to learn about an overview of the text via powerpoint.  Please feel free to ask questions, share what you have done if you have studied Dr. Bailey, and/or try it out and let us know how it goes!

There’s got to be a Better Way: Discpline that Works

My Journey with Dr. Bailey

I began teaching at the Children’s Campus in December of 2007.  Prior to becoming a certified teacher, I spent my college years being what we call a “student worker” in all of the five classrooms.  This means I had the wonderful opportunity to meet families, children, and teachers which served our birth to five year old population.  Through my experiences in each classroom and three years later, I learned so much and was able to take this to my student teaching placement as well as when I began downstairs in my classroom.  Through one of my interactions with a family, they mentioned that when I had my own classroom I would be very interested in learning about Becky Bailey and her techniques.

As part of our way to stay current and make sure that all of the members of our St. Ambrose University Children’s Campus become life-long learners, we each have goals that we maintain and learn from over the course of the year.  After learning hands-on my first year, it was time for me to meet with my director and choose my goal.  I knew automatically that Becky Bailey would be something I would need to study.  Thus begins my journey!

I began by reading, I Love You Rituals.   This book inspired me to begin to bring a sense of community with our children as well as began to observe more closely the rituals the children were creating with their families as well as with us, the teachers.  The first 56 pages describe the importance of I love you rituals, benefits, ways to begin, and also makes the reader reflect on their prior beliefs and current feelings.  The rest of the book contains I love you rituals.  I believe this book is a must have for parents and for educators.  Despite the age range of your children!

Four Goals:

• Goal One: I Love You Rituals optimize your child’s brain for success at school and in life.
• Goal Two: I Love You Rituals increase your learning potential and effectiveness through touch.
• Goal Three: I Love You Rituals create loving rituals that hold families together even through the roughest times
• Goal Four: I Love You Rituals strengthen the bond between adults and children that insulate children form drugs, violence, and peer pressure laying the foundation for mental and emotional health

Benefits:

• Routines encourage attention span and cooperation
• Routines are everywhere and children thrive on them
• Builds relationships
• Control over the environment
• Responsiveness is increased
• Language
• Social interactions/turn taking
• Feedback to our brain

Have I enticed you yet??  Pick up a copy today!  Please post your success stories with this process from an educator and/or parent stand point.