Principles In Relationship Building With Children, Young People And Adults

Superior Essays
There are several principles involved when relationship building with children, young people and adults.
Firstly you need to engage with the person you are dealing with. Dependent on the age of the person, techniques will need to be adapted. When you truly engage with someone they will believe you are interested in what they have to say, in their ideas, answers and opinions. By showing them that you are listening through eye contact, questioning and acknowledging their points they will open up and a positive relationship will develop and flourish.
Secondly you need to get appropriate feedback. By giving information out, you are not necessarily communicating effectively. You need to acknowledge the other parties response to make sure they have
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To communicate effectively with children and young people you will need a certain set of skills.
Always try to make a child feel like an equal to you. You do not want them to feel threatened or inadequate in any way. If a child is made to feel inferior, it may stop them sharing and communication may become difficult. You want to gain their trust. This can be done with both verbal and nonverbal skills.
Your tone of voice is very important. Always talk in a calm and clear manner. Try not to raise your voice or shout as children, especially young children, can get frightened and feel vulnerable. Where possible, draw up a seat and sit beside them, if you tower above them you will make them feel smaller, both physically and mentally. Hold eye contact and nod to show the child you are really listening. Smile and show enthusiasm for what the child is saying. If you look distracted or bored the child will soon feel the same way. Courtesy and respect should always be shown. Children are learning communication skills from adults all the
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You need to be confident to adapt your methods of communication accordingly.
The younger the child, the more encouragement and praise they will need. We want to build their confidence from as young as possible. Pointing out the positive in their work will make them want to repeat and hopefully better their first efforts and will make learning a lot more fun. They will also need a lot more reassurance than older children. By smiling and being approachable we can make them feel less frightened of the new environment that they find themselves in.
As a child grows up our feedback will become more directed. We should still show encouragement but now we can be more specific with our response. If the class has been given a novel to read, instead of praising them for just finishing the task, we can open up a whole new area of discussion and future projects. We can ask them questions about the characters, storylines, ask them to imagine themselves in the main character’s position. Further to that, art work or history lessons can also be linked to the subject. The possibilities are

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