Aziz, aged four and a refugee, finds life in this new country strange and his mother tearfully tells him that they may never see his father again.
Sally, also four, knows that her old and ill dog will die soon. Sean, a little younger, is afraid of going to bed because his brother says that a bad man will take him away during the night.
Children, like adults, are often troubled. The scale of concerns for these three small children is very different but in every case the outcomes are similar - agitated and fretful behaviour and an inability to concentrate.
Working memory
From this year, one of the two main targets for Sure Start is to improve young children's emotional and communication skills. It is well recognised now that children's emotional well-being affects their ability to learn.
Negative feelings can affect our working memory (a measure of the number of things that one can cope with at one time). Most adults are able to keep several ideas and skills in their minds at one time. But children, who are new to learning, initially find everything a challenge and need all their energies to remember newly-acquired skills and understandings. Anxiety and insecurity take up a lot of mental space, blocking a working memory and leaving a child unsure, confused and forgetful about things in which they were previously competent.
Tuning in
Sometimes children openly express their concerns, but often their worries fester within and impact on their well-being. While we cannot (and should not) pry into their feelings, it is important for children to understand that:
* an adult recognises when something is wrong for them * adults can be trusted to listen and understand.
Children are more likely to talk about their concerns in a relaxed environment where their views are valued and adults share easy conversations with them. Early years practitioners can strive to provide this relaxed environment, where they listen carefully and observe children's behaviour.
Open all your antennae to children, allowing time to really listen to what they say to you and un-pick the hidden messages behind their words.
For example, Joe blurted that it was better for boys not to have a mum. The practitioner simply accepted the comment at the time, but found out afterwards that Joe was trying to adjust to his mum having suddenly left the family. Joe was desperately trying to believe his older brother's rough counselling that he should forget his mum.
Children may reveal their anxieties through role play. Marie's father insisted that his daughter was delighted by the arrival of her baby brother, but in the role-play area Marie repeatedly insisted on being mum, dashed her doll to the ground and told it to go away.
There are ways that every practitioner can try to uncover children's anxieties: Develop empathy.
* Sometimes children's worries may appear trivial and even amusing but for that child the concern is real and inhibiting. Try to 'step into the child's mind' to really appreciate how they are feeling and become more sensitive to a child's viewpoint.
Gain information from the child's family members.
* Children may be more open about their worries when at home, so ask parents and carers to share this information with you as part of an open and trusting relationship.
Work with other colleagues.
* Other practitioners can contribute useful observations about a child. For example, lunchtime supervisory assistants may note behaviour in the playground which suggests that a child is lonely or frightened.
How can you help?
* Support children to do something practical about their worry, developing the skills to make a new friend, to be truthful and admit to, say, taking sweets from a shop.
* Let children know that everyone has worries; it is important that they do not feel they are alone.
* Encourage them to face the worry and so clear it out of their mind, through resources such as the Worry Bug Tree.
The Worry Bug Tree
The Worry Bug Tree provides a practical and enjoyable activity to use with children aged five to seven years, although it can be adapted for use with younger children. It comprises a tree, worry bugs with Velcro pads to attach to the tree and a bug tray. It is designed to:
* help children to recognise and 'park' a worry
* have the option of sharing their worry with others
* clear the worry away through singing a simple song.
Preparation
* Seat the children in a circle and share a story with them, such as Michael Rosen's Sad Book (Walker Books, 10.99) or The Huge Bag of Worries by Virginia Ironside (Hodder Wayland, 3.99).
* Use the story to raise a discussion about worries. Give a genuine example of your own - for example, 'I think that I have lost my house keys.'
* Ask the children if anyone has a worry that they would like to share.
* Introduce a tray of worry bugs. Explain that each has a worry and that as long as the bugs stay in the tray, the worry will not go away.
* Introduce the tree. Explain that when a worry bug is placed on the tree it starts to feel better and the worry stops getting any bigger.
* Introduce and teach the children a worry bug song, which frees the worry bugs to fly away with the worry.
Activity
* Demonstrate each of the steps yourself.
* Suggest that if children have a worry, they select a bug and attach it to the tree. Some may share the worry, but this is entirely optional.
* Explain that the worry bugs are there to use only if something is bothering them. Stress that often we have no worries at all and this is a good thing.
* Sing the worry bug song at the end of the day. Suggest that children look at the tree the following morning (by which time all of the bugs should have been removed!).
Helpful points
* Help children to understand that although the worry bug tree is there to help them, worries do not always go away and that sometimes they come back or different ones appear.
* Younger children may find it difficult to recognise the term 'worry'.
They may understand better the questions 'What frightens you?' or 'What is bothering you?' Children may need to hear several stories about worries and hear adults refer to their concerns before they can identify with the feeling.
* Having introduced the resource to the whole group it can then be used selectively: in a small group, particularly with those children you know are troubled; or at times of potential stress - for example, a forthcoming transition into a new class
* Use bug role play to reinforce the worry bug activity. Use suitable music to encourage the children to crawl around worried in the bug tray, creep up and fix themselves on the tree, sing the song and fly happily away.
Further information
* For information and orders for the Worry Bug Tree, tel: 01297678 157 or e-mail: Mariondowling @aol.com
CASE STUDY: KENDER PRIMARY SCHOOL, SOUTH LONDON
Reception teacher Tiffany Gordon introduced the worry bug tree to her class about six weeks ago and after a couple of sessions has started to use it as a more regular part of her weekly circle time.
She introduced the resource by sharing the book The Huge Bag of Worries - because 'worries is a difficult concept for young children to understand' - and giving examples of her worries.
Initially, only the most able of children were prepared to participate, but soon the less confident joined in. Among the children's concerns have been a fear of the dark and of moving to Year One. One child feared that his grandfather, who had recently died, was 'lost in the sky', because his mother had told him he was 'up in heaven'.
Tiffany sometimes makes the tree available outside the organised sessions, when she has found that small groups have gravitated to the resource to discuss their worries and offer each other advice, such as 'Why don't you leave a little light on at night?'
In organised sessions, she has tended not to remove the bugs too quickly from the tree for fear it gives the children the impression that their problems are not being taken seriously or that all problems can be solved overnight. Instead, she has encouraged the children to ponder the scale of differing problems and how solving them may take time.
Tiffany says, 'As a teaching tool, it's a really good way to raise awareness about the children's concerns, which are often different from what you expect.'
She thinks that she may eventually make the tree available only about once every three weeks, to avoid 'diminishing its significance' through too frequent use.