Student life is all about learning. At this level, they come across many new scenarios and often are not clear on how to handle them. Accordingly, they have a lot of chances to deviate from the right track. Ensuring a proper guideline redirecting them back to the right track is often necessary.
Parents and teachers need to focus on redirecting the children with words. While we call this strategy verbal redirection, it has a number of benefits both in school and at home. This article is filled with multiple insights to educate you about verbal redirection and also examples of positive redirection to realign your little one optimistically.
Verbal redirection- Inferring the backdrop
Every day, youngsters learn something new. They’re learning to walk, run, say new words, recognize colors and letters, know what’s safe and what isn’t, and connect with others. They have a lot to remember, which may be challenging at times. It can be irritating when your child is doing something you don’t want them to do and doesn’t appear to be listening. But what are your alternatives? Redirection is an excellent strategy.
Redirection is a strategy for teaching your child correct behavior, keeping them safe, promoting exploration, avoiding power struggles, and creating a strong link with you. This can be of two types: Verbal and Physical.
Verbal redirecting is a strategy of saying good things to children when they unknowingly do unfair things. For instance, if a child stands on a chair, parents may guide them by saying that chairs are for sitting and not standing. They may then let little ones sit to show what is right. Basically, verbal redirecting is all about pointing out something that a child is doing wrong and then immediately letting them know what is right, thereby making them align on the right path of life.
Physical redirection is similar to verbal redirection, with one exception. When you reprimand a youngster verbally, you are also reprimanding them physically.
Positive & negative redirection: What can be the impacts?
Redirection basically is the process of picking up one negative aspect and making it a positive one. This can be ensured broadly in a couple of ways. Firstly, reprimanding them for their mistakes and making them right with discipline. This can be referred to as Negative redirection. Secondly, the instructors can mark out the off-task behavior and ensure to deal with it with positive words, which may be inferred as Positive redirection.
Positive redirections are often a preferred method as it retains motivation in the little ones, without being harsh. Conversely, negative strategies may be used to induce pressure. Be it positive or negative redirections, they can be impactive on the following grounds to ensure discipline:
- Addressing the tantrum of little ones. The little ones may be impatient in certain cases. Here, parents can obviously reprimand them, ensuring negative redirection. Nonetheless, there is an alternative for the same. They may divert their attention to something useful, making it a positive direction effortlessly.
- Taking up new challenges or handling newer entities may be ambiguous for the little ones. Redirecting them to appropriate implementation of objects can work. Say, the little one is gifted with a toy, they may throw them at the wall. Parents can redirect them to play appropriately.
- Offer a chance to correct and teach the right path. These redirections are not only about rectifying the deeds of the little ones, but they also make sure about new lessons in life. Many of the inappropriate behaviors and habits are addressed at an early stage. These small snippets of lessons can make a noteworthy difference as they grow up.
Examples of positive redirections
- A toddler walking on the banks of a river picks up pebbles and throws them at a nearby dog. The parents instantly stop them by saying, “Dear, the dog will get hurt. Leave them and hold a stick to write numbers on the ground .” They may be enticed by the idea of writing on the ground and leaving the stone.
- The child sitting at the dining table spills ketchup over. Mentors can redirect them by saying, “You need to take a slice of bread and pour ketchup on it.” they may also demonstrate how this is done so that the little one can get a better idea. Drastically, the children will learn to maintain clean eating habits.
- In the classroom, the student may pick paper from a neighbor’s notes and play with it. Instead of reprimanding them by saying, “Put that away right now!”, the teacher positively reacts by asking “Where should that paper be?” The little ones can learn themselves that they are holding inappropriate things, and can keep them back in place.
- If the teacher is taking the class and in the midst of the lesson, the student starts talking, instead of asking them, “Stop Talking!”, the instructor may ask,” What should you be doing right now?”. The little one can continue listening to the class.
- If the little one is having chewing gum at home during study hours, the parent may gently ask them, “What is our rule about Chewing gum?” As gums during studies were prohibited previously, the little one will understand the same effortlessly.
- If a student fights with their peers over food during the break, the teacher can react by redirecting them to share or establish a bond between them. They may ask, “Are you a good one? If yes, then share your food.”
- A toddler gifted with a baseball bat hits everything they see with it. Parents can respond by asking, “What is the bat meant for? Come here and hit the ball.” This way, the little ones will ger acquitted to learning to play the game.
Speaking to your child in this clear and calm manner will assist them in learning and remembering what is expected of them. When a mother or a father shouts at their kid to quit an action or behavior, the kid often gets confused about what should be done. A child can’t solve a problem on their own yet, so they don’t know what to do to change their behavior.
If a kid is being grumpy and aggressive with their cousins or friends while playing a game, the parent should join in and change the rules. Instead of stopping and controlling the kid from playing, the parent should join them and suggest a new game or make up crazy rules that have everyone laughing and competing to think of the silliest way to play it. Keep in mind that redirection can sometimes be as simple as diverting the kid’s attention away from the inappropriate behavior.
How do you politely redirect a child?
Reduce the number of words you use and the intensity with which you express yourself.
It’s easy to become engrossed in lengthy lectures, pestering, and yelling questions we don’t want to be answered. Begin by training yourself to utilize a few short, to-the-point statements like: I’m looking forward to I’m depending on you too.
Teach your children particular nonverbal directions too, such as hand gestures or sign language.
Explaining the little ones’ codes of communication like “Thank you”, “Sit down”, and “Stand up” and so on. These can be delivered to them without interrupting the lecture or session through some non-verbal gestures. Also taking assistance from a class monitor or other students can be a good idea too.”
While standing near the off-task youngsters, maintain eye contact with the on-task children.
Being an instructor, it may be the responsibility to make sure that only the specific student (who requires redirection) is redirected without hampering others in the class. Accordingly, they can choose to go to that particular student while maintaining eye contact and pace with other students. Now, aligning that particular pupil non verbally works out the scenario even by standing beside them for some time.
Assist the children till they reach their goals.
Asking and then assisting them to align with class goals can be a good way of verbal redirection in class. Say, a student is in off-task behavior in the class, the teacher can ask them, “So we’re discussing right now about numbers.” “Could you recite a few numbers? Now, give them a few seconds to think and answer. If they answer correctly, they can be appraised for their answer. If not, they can be guided to align with the class flow. Either way, they can be brought to righteous behavior.
In general, children respond better to positive reinforcement than negative ones; redirection does this while still gently correcting your child, alerting them that what they are doing is inappropriate, and demonstrating a more acceptable behavior. At the same time, it may also be a mood changer by offering your kid a new enjoyable activity to focus on, they may be able to transform their anger into enjoyment.
Bonus insights…
When using a gentle, nurturing voice, verbal redirection may always include explanations of the correct action that a child can understand. When it comes to reinforcing positive behaviors and discouraging negative behaviors, consistency is essential.
Overall, kids may need someone who can guide them to a righteous path. No matter how small it is, a mentor with verbal redirection can assist them to get better as a person in all areas. This can not only be a mood changer but also a consistent source of learning. Check out the above insights to ensure your little one learns all minute aspects of daily life.
An engineer, Maths expert, Online Tutor and animal rights activist. In more than 5+ years of my online teaching experience, I closely worked with many students struggling with dyscalculia and dyslexia. With the years passing, I learned that not much effort being put into the awareness of this learning disorder. Students with dyscalculia often misunderstood for having just a simple math fear. This is still an underresearched and understudied subject. I am also the founder of Smartynote -‘The notepad app for dyslexia’,