A Fun Way to Teach Preschoolers Necessary Social Conventions

Social conventions, necessary lessons that take practice.

In order to learn to live in society, even the youngest of children needs to hear and see examples of people saying hello, goodbye, please, thank you etc.  We all like hearing people say hello and goodbye to us, as recognition that we've been noticed and acknowledged, that time with somebody has begun (hello) and ended (goodbye). We instinctively say it to babies when we see them, it's perhaps the first words we speak to our newborns.  It starts early.

In a group setting, singing hello to the children is a fabulous greeting ritual. The attention given to each indivudual implies that every one is valued and you are glad that he/she is there.  If you say hello and use a name "Hello Maggie", this amplifies the recognition.  In a group setting, saying hello to individual children also helps the other children to get to know one another, expanding their community involvement.

Singing goodbye is also a fabulous farewell ritual and a sign that signifies that the time spent with somebody or something or in a particular place is over.  Saying goodbye is important, particularly at the developmental stages where leaving somebody or somewhere is likely to induce a tantrum.  Never up and leave without a word - no matter how bad the behaviour, never threaten to just leave a child without saying goodbye (we see this a lot in society) - it creates fear and prevents the trust bond from growing.

Calmly telling a child repeatedly that "it's time to go, we're saying goodbye, we'll be back later/next week" will eventually instill that it's ok to leave in a happy mood, that they've had fun and will possibly return to share the experience again. During a tantrum, this takes incredible internal strength on the part of the carer (we know, we've been there too), but it's well worth persisting.

It's up to you, the carer, and the rest of us as a community, to set an example and teach the value of saying hello and goodbye, to help all children throughout their lives.  

Here at Musical Child, the social conventions included in the activities are a very vital beginning and end.  We even use sign language to encourage all the children that there can be more than one way to say hello and goodbye (they are actually different waving techniques). It's great for the non-talkers and talkers :)

To grab a copy of any of our preschool music activities visit http://www.musicalchild.com.au

To learn the hello/goodbye signs - http://signplanet.net/

 ♪♫♪ Sung to you by Musical Child ♪♫♪