Diversity and Its Role In The Settling In Process

What Helps A Child Feel Understood?

Children are in the process of trying to make sense of the world around them. When children feel understood, it helps to support their independence and empowers them to explore and investigate their environments (Biermeier, 2015). This chapter will provide information for all families to learn more about what inclusion looks like within a kindergarten environment, and the approaches educators use to help children realise that they are understood and seen.

Not feeling understood can be discouraging. It can make a child feel left out or abandoned and in turn, cause them to doubt their own opinions, ultimately affecting their self-esteem. Not feeling understood can lead to frustration in children and this frustration can come out in a variety of ways. When a child does feel understood, this can contribute to them feeling accepted and is an important way for them to know they are part of a community. Interaction with other people is a basic need for human beings. Feeling understood opens communication and allows the child to start exploring rather than worrying about whether or not someone will understand them. There are various individual cues that children use to help adults understand their needs such as different types of crying, facial expressions, gestures and so on. A carer can observe and learn to read these signals to see each individual's needs with time. Children who are shown unconditional care and respect will find the understanding they require to function until they are better able to process the verbal information given to them.