Before working with children there were several things that I was not aware of that were important. When I took a step back and listened to the children around me, there is so much that I learned. Not only because children are brutally honest, but you can see how their personalities go hand and hand with so many things.
1. You have to be accountable.
If you say that you are going to do something, you better follow through. Children have taught me how much accountability is actually necessary and that there are consequences that go with the actions of not following through. When you are apart of a program that has up to 25 kids, you aren't letting one person down, you are letting 25.
2. Don't expect them to be perfect.
You can't expect children to always walk into class or the program in wonderful moods. Children should be able to not be in a good mood some days. How you react to this shouldn't be negative because how many times have you had a bad day personally and have taken it out on someone else? So instead of not having patience with the children, cut them some slack, and make it a learning opportunity to teach them coping skills to turn their day around.
3. Patience goes a long way.
Instead of expecting results as soon as you ask for them, let children have the opportunity to find their own motivation to complete the task. Don't continuously bark commands at them and expect them to act like a robot. Children aren't robots, you aren't a robot, stop expecting them to be perfect.
4. Be consistent.
You need to be consistent with every child. If you want to penalize them for breaking a rule one time, and then not the other, it is totally not fair. You need to be consistent with your behavior first before you can expect any child to build up to do the same.
5. Make sure you're a good mirror image.
Children pick up on everything. They are learning new things about the life we live in every single day. So if you don't have good behavior, and you do said behavior, then don't complain when the children mimic you.
6. Stop and pay attention.
I can't count on my fingers how many times I have zoned out to a story. Yes sometimes Johnny goes on and on, but you should listen, always. Children pick up when you aren't fully listening. This is not fair in any way. Don't expect them to listen to you if you don't take the time to listen to them.
7. Pay attention to your body language.
Notice how you are standing, are you intimidating? If so change this. A lot of what people, especially kids, look into is what kind of presence you have. Are you going to be the teacher they can approach, or are you going to be someone they aren't going to turn to. If you hope they don't turn to you in anyway, then you are in the wrong profession.
Always, number one, no matter what, be there for the children that come into your life. There is only so much time that is going to go by before these kids will grow into teenagers and not want to listen to your advice anymore. Be accountable, show up, and love each child as if they were your own.