Autonomy’s Independence

A toddler is on a mission for independence. When children are at the toddler age they start to develop behaviors of saying no, exploring, and learning self-help skills. These skills deal with the want of power and control in their lives. Toddlers need to feel this power and control in their environments. As an educator, you can facilitate that independence. Having a developmentally appropriate environment, encouragement of self-help skills to reinforce independence, giving choices throughout the day to make a child feel independent, providing control for the students in your classroom, set limits, and have a community resource to assist parents are all ways in which to help your students feel independent. The question is how to do all this as an educator.

Toddlers developing autonomy starts with saying no. Not physically saying the word but using body language. Moving the head away from incoming food and closing the mouth is a clear statement of no without saying a word. This is the moment when the child asserts their independence. By age two the child is more rebellious and stubborn about nearly everything. This behavior paves the way for terrible twos. Although, this can be a frustrating time for parents and caregivers it is important to note that learning to say no is a fundamental skill. When children enter the no stage giving choices throughout the day will make a child feel more independent. Giving children choices such as whether to dress themselves or be dressed by a parent. Toddler will gain self-confidence by being able to choose (Hudlemeyer, 2008).

Exploration starts in infancy, grows out of attachment, and increases as children move toward autonomy (Gonzalez-Mena, p. 53). Babies that are excellent explorers start ex...

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So, having a developmentally appropriate environment, providing control for the students in your classroom, and setting limits aid in the exploration stage of autonomy, While giving choices throughout the day to make a child feel independent helps when a child is in the negative “no” stage of autonomy. Being encouraging aids self-help skills to reinforce independence. And having a community resource to assist parents are all ways in which to help your students feel independent. A toddler is on a mission for independence. As an educator, you can facilitate that independence.

Works Cited

Gonzalez-Mena, J. (2009). Child, family, and community: family-centered early care and education. Pearson College Div.

Hudlemeyer, M. (2008, May 14). Teaching toddlers to decide. Retrieved from http://infanttoddlerdevelopment.suite101.com/article.cfm/the_power_to_decide