4 Ways Teachers Should Manage Aggressive Pre-schoolers

4 Ways Teachers Should Manage Aggressive Pre-schoolers


Before discussing aggressive behaviours, we should know what behaviours are. Behaviours can be good or bad and they are simply used by children to communicate with one another. Among the most difficult things is to find out whether children have behavior problems. It should be noted that behaviours are actually symptoms, not the actual cause of the problem. In many cases, educators and caregivers need to play detective to discover the reason of aggressive behaviours among children. Most of the time, they don’t know what the actual problems are, but they should know that something is really wrong. Here are things preschool teachers should do to manage aggressive behaviours:

  1. Set schedules: Teachers should make sure that all children are on a schedule. This will make it easier to manage children and limit possible anxiety. Schedules can provide children with a feeling of security and they can expect what will happen each day. In this case, aggressive children will know that they are being controlled to perform specific things.
  2. Prepare for aggressive reactions: Unfortunately, many aggressive children will react strongly when someone tries to control them. They may refuse to do things, scream and cry. If they stand up, teachers should silently put them back on their chairs. At first, it isn’t necessary to explain, they just need to know that they are being controlled to do specific things. They know that they can’t do everything as they see fit. While teachers try to enforce rules, their aggressive behaviours can intensify. They could even hit and bite. When the aggressive behaviours get worse, it is actually a good sign that children are responding to rules. However, teachers should be patient and let children know that they can’t do everything as they wish.
  3. Set up plans: As mentioned previously, there are reasons for aggressive behaviours among children and teachers should be one step ahead them at all times. Teachers should have an effective plan, so they will be fully prepared when the crisis arrives. They will know what steps they need to take. Managing aggressive children can be quite overwhelming, especially if we are not prepared.
  4. Be persistent: When handling very difficult children, it may appear that it isn’t going to work. At this situation, persistence is often the best thing teachers can do. When aggressive boys throw sand to others’ eyes, teachers should sit children down in the classroom and ay nothing else. If children try to get up, teachers should catch them and tell them that there’s no running away. Take children back to the chair. This could take more a hundred times, but teachers need to be consistent and persistent. When these aggressive children have calmed down, teachers should make children to say that they are sorry. They should give the other children a hug.

Disciplining children can be quite difficult and time-consuming, but it is possible to shape them into better persons, before they are enrolled into the elementary school. It may take a few months, before these steps could have an impact on aggressive children.