Rituals Used to Develop Friendships

Friendships and social play skills are key competencies for our preschoolers to develop. They help form the foundation for long term success in school and in the community.

Head Start uses Conscious Discipline, a social-emotional learning program designed by Dr. Becky Bailey. The program offers relationship building activities that promote skills like taking turns, sharing, being kind to one another, and helping one another. We talk about our “school family.”

Conscious Discipline also helps us teach the children to have self-control and to self-regulate.

It gives them ways to respond to each other when we are emotional and it helps figure out the triggers that cause us to become emotional.

For example, “I Love You” Rituals are structured connecting activities that include eye contact, touch, presence and playfulness.

Classrooms benefit from I Love You Rituals in routines like the Brain Smart Start, during circle time and after transitions. Teachers and individual students benefit from scheduling regular one-on-one I Love You Rituals when there is a call for help from a child during difficult behaviors such as aggression, tantrums or withdrawal.

“I Love You Rituals are helpful for all children, but are particularly essential to fostering healthy connections and development,” said Firelands Head Start teacher Jennifer Ketchum. “They are critical to engaging children with challenging behaviors, as well as those who are at-risk, or experience special needs.”

Greeting rituals also encourage friendships.

Our preschoolers have the opportunity to be the greeter each morning and they ask their friends how they want to be greeted in the morning by giving them several options as they are welcomed in the classroom.

“Greetings provide a way to connect with every family that enters the classroom,” Dr. Bailey says. “All parents/guardians want to know their children are going to be safe and valued, and have a fun day of learning while at school.”