Our job as adults is to teach children how to keep themselves and others safe. Teaching children a small number of safety rules is an important part of your job as a child care provider. Now you will apply what you have learned by developing a set of rules. If you already have rules for your child care program, think about another spot like the playground or bus and rules that would be needed in those settings. You can also use the reflection guide on the next page to make sure your current rules are appropriate.

  1. Brainstorm all the behaviors you want to see in your child care program. Then, brainstorm common behavior problems you see in your program. Reframe the problems: What positive behaviors do you want to see instead?
  2. Look at your lists. Are any of the behaviors similar? Are any of the behaviors unimportant? Cross off behaviors that don’t seem important enough to be a rule.
  3. Decide on 3-5 rules you want to teach. List them here.
  4. Make a poster to help teach your rules. Take photos of the children following the rules. You may also want to refer to theclipart from the Head Start Early Childhood Learning & Knowledge Centerto create a rules poster.

Thinking about your Current Rules

If you already have rules in your program, take some time to think about them. Do they follow the guidelines for effective rules?

Rule: List your rules in the spaces below Does the rule have the word “No,” “Don’t,” or “Never”? Does the rule have the word “and” in it? Do you have a picture of the rule or children following it?

If you ran out of space, that means you have too many rules! Decide which are the most important. Use the guide on Page 1. If you answered “Yes” to any of these questions, rewrite your rule. Make sure it tells children what to do instead of what not to do! If you answered “Yes” to any of these questions, your rule might be too long or too complex. Can children understand your rule? If you answered “No” to any of these questions, use clipart (see link on pg1) or a camera to create pictures of the rules.