Relationship Strategies Worksheet
Scenario 1
Liam, 6 months, is a feisty baby. He has irregular eating and sleeping schedules, highly
intense reactions, and a high sensitivity to stimulation in the environment. His primary care
teacher, Mr. Jason, has learned to respond to his temperament and has a calming effect on
him when he is in the classroom. Many times Liam is content and able to participate in
activities. When Mr. Jason leaves for a break or at the end of his work day, Liam has a very
hard time.
Different teachers are assigned to relieve Mr. Jason for his breaks and when he leaves for
the day. The staff doesn’t like to cover for Mr. Jason because of how difficult Liam can be
when Mr. Jason out of the classroom. The director lets staff rotate the responsibility so none
of them has to deal with Liam every day.
Today, Ms. Chloe is covering Mr. Jason’s break. When she comes into the classroom, Mr.
Jason is in the rocking chair with Liam who is agitated and crying. She approaches Mr. Jason
and Liam and asks loudly over Liam’s crying, “How long has he been crying?” Mr. Jason says
Liam is tired and needs a nap. He begins the process of transferring Liam to Ms. Chloe.
Liam’s crying intensifies as he is moved. Mr. Jason rubs Liam’s head and tells Liam that he
is leaving for his break. He promises that he will be back.
Ms. Chloe holds Liam in the rocker and begins rocking rapidly, putting a little bounce in the
rock with her foot. She covers Liam’s eyes with his blanket to screen out the light from the
classroom and begins to hum a lullaby. Liam’s crying intensifies, but Ms. Chloe persists.
After a while, Ms. Chloe gets up from the rocker and starts walking around the classroom,
bouncing Liam as she walks. He continues to cry. When nothing seems to be working, she
puts Liam in his crib and leaves him to put himself to sleep as she takes care of the other
children. When Mr. Jason returns, Liam is still in his crib crying and has not had a nap.
Barriers to Building
Trust and
Relationships
Page 1 of 4
Programmatic
Strategies to Create
Trust and
Relationships
Caregiver Strategies
to Create Trust and
Relationships
Scenario 2
Preston, 14 months, is roaming around the room. He walks to a low shelf unit and picks up
a ring tower with five rings on it. He dumps the rings off of the tower, watches them fall to
the floor, and looks at his teacher, Ms. Rashima, who is busy having a snack with two
children. Preston drops the ring tower on his way to the window. He briefly gazes out the
window, then wanders to the space for block play. Sitting down in the block area, Preston
grabs one block in each hand and bangs them together, looking over at Ms. Rashima with a
big smile on his face. Ms. Rashima says, “Build with those blocks, Preston.” He looks back
and forth between the blocks, then over at Ms. Rashima and the two children at the snack
table. Smiling, he bangs them together again. Again, she doesn’t notice. Preston drops the
blocks and rakes the rest of the blocks off the shelf onto the floor. He walks to a table near
the manipulative area that has several knobbed puzzles on it. He grabs a couple of the
pieces and begins to bang them together. He gets a big smile on his face and then looks
over at Ms. Rashima, who is wagging her finger at him and saying, “No, no, Preston.”
Preston throws the puzzle pieces down and wanders to the cozy area where he lies down.
Barriers to Building
Trust and
Relationships
Page 2 of 4
Programmatic
Strategies to Create
Trust and
Relationships
Caregiver Strategies
to Create Trust and
Relationships
Scenario 3
Mr. Elijah is a care teacher for a group of toddlers. For the majority of the day, the toddlers
have access to all of the learning areas and materials in their room. Mr. Elijah finds the end
of the day hectic with families arriving to pick up their children. Toys are strewn about and
he still needs to attend to the closing duties of cleaning and sanitizing. So toward the end of
the day, Mr. Elijah closes off learning areas and puts away some materials to help maintain
order.
Ollie, 26 months, is building a block structure using many different blocks and it has taken
him quite a bit of time. Hank, 20 months, is stringing beads. This is the first time he has
been able to string so many beads consecutively. Sierra, 24 months, is laying out scarves
on the floor so each scarf lines up to the next with corners touching. Mr. Elijah has cleared a
space to accommodate her work.
When it about time to go outside, Mr. Elijah tells each child to clean up their toys. Hank
yells, “Mine!” when Mr. Elijah attempts to pick up the lacing beads. While lifting the string
and sliding the beads off Mr. Elijah says, “You have to put them away now. Watch them
slide off of the string.” Hank repeats, “My beads,” and shoves the bead bin. Although Hank
is upset, Mr. Elijah ignores his outburst and re-shelves the beads. Ollie asks Mr. Elijah if he
can leave his blocks out. Mr. Elijah nicely replies, “No, put the blocks back. You can build it
again later.” Ollie hangs his head and disappointedly disassembles his structure. Sierra
stamps her feet and frantically tries to put the scarves back in order when Mr. Elijah starts
putting them away.
When the toddler group returns indoors, Mr. Elijah closes off the block and vehicle area, the
dramatic play and music area, and one of the manipulatives areas. Ollie runs eagerly to the
block area and stops quickly at the closed off area asking, “Can I build?” Mr. Elijah replies,
“Not now, it is closed. Your grandpa will be coming soon. You can build tomorrow.” Ollie
hangs his head and walks away. Sierra, looking for the scarves, asks, “Where are my
scarves?” Mr. Elijah gives her a reply similar to the one given to Ollie. Hank runs around
the room, not finding anything interesting to do. Ollie looks absently out the window and
Sierra lays books on the floor in a manner similar to what she did with the scarves.
Barriers to Building
Trust and
Relationships
Page 3 of 4
Programmatic
Strategies to Create
Trust and
Relationships
Caregiver Strategies
to Create Trust and
Relationships
Page 4 of 4
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