Nursery World - Naughtiness

The 'N' word - 'Naughty' may be a concept for nursery staff to beware, yet children will always behave in ways that fit the definition. Juliet Brown explains what may be behind disruptive behaviour and how you can deal with it

Recently a small storm blew up in the mainstream media about nurseries banning the use of the word 'naughty'. Much naughtiness, like evil, is in the eye of the beholder. Adults have very different ideas about what constitutes naughty behaviour and it may be quite difficult at times for nursery staff to agree on what should be tolerated. For example, there are often differences about when and how to intervene if children fight or quarrel.

It's easy to suppose that behaviour that annoys is intended to be annoying, but lots of irritating things such as spilt milk, wet pants, broken toys and lost shoes happen simply because of children's immaturity. Many other annoying things happen because children have more energy than most adults and they are bound to find ways to amuse themselves if there is nothing interesting to do.

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