The Wellbeing of Children under Three

Helen Bradford

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2012
• ISBN:
  9781136306969
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Éducation
• Subtopic: Éducation générale

The most rapid and significant phase of development occurs in the first three years of a child's life. The Supporting Children from Birth to Three series focuses on the care and support of the youngest children. Each book takes a key aspect of working with this age group and gives clear and detailed explanations of relevant theories together with practical examples to show how such theories translate into good working practice.

Children's personal, social and emotional wellbeing has a huge impact on their overall development. Drawing on recent research, this book looks at what wellbeing means for the under threes in the light of key aspects of UK and international social policy and practically demonstrates how practitioners can support children in this area.

Focusing on the home-setting partnership with parents, work attitudes, adult and child interaction and quality learning environment, the book explores the holistic role that adults play in supporting children's individual personal, social and emotional needs. Features include:

• clear explanation of relevant theories

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• case studies and examples of good practice

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• focus points for readers

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• questions for reflective practice

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Providing a wealth of practical ideas and activities, this handy text encourages explores all aspects of babies and toddlers' wellbeing to help practitioners ensure effective outcomes for the youngest children in their care.

Defining wellbeing

This chapter endeavours to support early years settings to reach a working definition for wellbeing in relation to the babies and children under three in their care. It merely ‘endeavours’ to do so because research suggests that it is notoriously difficult to define the often unstable nature of the term, particularly in the United Kingdom. Wellbeing is a term that appears in many policy documents worldwide, but when we talk about children’s wellbeing, what does it actually mean? One of the lines of thinking in this chapter is to consider the notion of wellbeing in relation to babies and children under three within three considered frameworks: the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, Pollard and Lee’s five domains of child wellbeing and Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. Two case studies, one from Norway and one from New Zealand, add a wider global perspective to the debate. To this end, the first chapter provides a foundation from which to move thinking forward, following wide-ranging considerations and application.

Activity

Before reading this chapter, develop a working definition of child wellbeing within your early years setting. Do this as a staff group if you are working through the chapter together.

Wellbeing and children’s rights

At first glance the phrase ‘children’s rights’ might not automatically be the first thought that comes to mind when thinking about the under-three age group; however, interest in children’s rights has become an increasingly prevalent concept worldwide since 1959 with the Declaration of Rights of the Child by the General Assembly of the United Nations. The Declaration acknowledges children as being those aged from birth to 18 years. Thirty years later, in 1989, world leaders officially recognised the rights of the child by signing the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, a 54-Article document which states that every child has the same rights. These rights appear under five umbrella headings, outlined below:

1.	The right to a childhood. Childhood is recognised as a crucial time for growth and development, but also as a time of potential vulnerability, which means that children need extra protection compared to adults.
2.	The right to be educated. Articles relating to education include specific references to children who are disabled.
3.	The right to be healthy. Every child has the right to health care, clean water, nutritious food and a safe environment so they can be as healthy as possible (Article 24).
4.	The right to be treated fairly. All children have the same rights, no matter where they are from, what their family background may be or whether they are disabled or not. Currently in the UK, the fifth richest country in the world, around four million children live in poverty.
5.	The right to be heard. Article 12, for example, states that all children have a right to be able to give their opinion when adults are making a decision that will affect them, and adults should take that opinion seriously.

In addition, there are several Articles that deserve attention when thinking about the subject matter of this book, in that wellbeing should be of paramount importance for early years settings when considering the children in their care. The Articles are listed below with links to early years principles of care, children’s learning and their development:

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Article 3: all organisations concerned with children should work towards what is best for each child. Working towards what is best for each child should be the primary aim of every early years setting, fundamentally reflected through their mission statement, their aims and their ethos, as well as their practical provision and pedagogy within the care environment. The phrase ‘working towards’ suggests a reflective approach, one that allows for response, evaluation and change where appropriate. It also suggests a collaborative approach among members of staff who collectively represent ‘the organisation’ or the setting, and who together develop appropriate environments, learning and developmental opportunities for every child based on individual need.

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Article 16: all children have the right to privacy. Sometimes children simply need to be quiet. They need a space in which they can be undisturbed. A quiet area in the setting will allow for such privacy when children wish to withdraw for whatever reason, whether to sleep, read a book or play alone. Babies need privacy and concentrated one-to-one attention during intimate moments such as nappy changes. Changing a nappy whilst carrying on a conversation with another member of staff, talking over the child and ignoring them sends out poor signals to them and is a sign that their privacy during this intimate time is not of the practitioners’ uppermost consideration. Degotardi and Davis (2008) asked early years practitioners to comment on videotaped extracts of their interactions with a child in their care during a nappy changing routine. While not always the case, many of the practitioners gave descriptive responses that contained more information about the practitioner’s behaviour than that of the child, with some responses not referring to the child at all:

I’m changing [child’s] nappy at the moment. I put the paper down. I’m taking her nappy off. Pull out the tub – put it in the bin. I’m talking to her – make sure she’s ok. Give her a wipe. Throw the wipe away. Put on a new nappy – pants back on then we’re up. Then that’s it.

(Degotardi and Davis, 2008: 229)

	This may be a scenario perhaps to reflect on in relation to current setting practice.
•	Article 30: children who come from a minority group have the right to learn and use the language and customs of their own families. Inclusive practice should be a prime concern for all early years settings in that it should reflect some aspects of babies’ and children under three’s homes, communities and cultures: for example, using images and messages that represent home experiences and that recognise cultural diversity. Practitioners should work towards an understanding and respectful acknowledgement of a child’s culture because this may have an impact on appropriateness in relation to provision of care.
•	Article 31: all children have the right to relax and play, and to join a wide range of activities. This article is exemplified within the high number of early years curricula supporting principles of learning through play. Further, children under three need to experience a learning and care environment that offers many opportunities for exploration and enquiry and that enables them to further their understanding of the world around them as they grow and develop.

Activity

Staff discussions

1.	How is Article 31 exemplified within your setting?
2.	Go back to each of the five umbrella headings from the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. What evidence can you provide to show how you support each of these elements within your setting’s approach to childcare? Make notes under each heading to return to later in the chapter.

At the heart of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child is a concern for every child’s wellbeing – wellbeing in relation to an acceptable standard of living; quality of family life; coordinated care; health; food; sleep; being safe; and having equal opportunities. The list could go on, but the equation is simple: when all of the above are satisfied, a child’s wellbeing is respected, responded to and replete. They will then have the foundational means with which and in which to thrive. The precepts of the Convention are particularly pertinent for early years practitioners because they sit well within current research suggesting that it is the quality of early life experiences, including interactions with others, that later impacts on life outcomes for children (Sylva et al., 2010). Such research findings are further acknowledged and addressed within the new pre-emptory Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) for children in England aged between 0 and 5 years old, and due to come into statutory effect in September 2012. This is a document committed to ensuring that effective support is available for every child so that they are enabled to achieve later success, both in the realm of education and also life itself. Whilst it can be argued that ‘success’ is a rather subjective term to use in itself (it begs the question by which or whose definition, for example), the ultimate aim of the new EYFS is to support every child’s wellbeing with a clear focus on personal, social and emotional development, communication and language skills, and physical skills as the backbone or foundation to ensure successful future outcomes.

Supporting children’s wellbeing within the early years setting

Case study: Norway and children’s rights

In recognition of the fact that children comprise a large but weak group in society without the possibility for making themselves heard, Norway became the first country to establish an Ombudsman for Children. The rationale for the Ombudsman is to provide this group with someone to represent their interests and rights in the public arena. For 25 years the Norwegian Ombudsman for Children has represented a voice for children in the public debate. The main tasks of the Ombudsman are to promote children’s interests in society and follow the trends in the standard of living for children, echoing two of the principles in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, which state that children have the right to feel safe and to voice their opinions and be heard. Since Norway established...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Introduction
• 1 Defining wellbeing
• 2 Personal, social and emotional wellbeing
• 3 Wellbeing, the early years practitioner and the early years setting
• 4 Wellbeing within the early years setting: supporting babies and children under three
• 5 Wellbeing: principles behind and into practice
• 6 Drawing the threads together
• References
• Index