In the theoretical part I firstly explain the roles that the family and the kindergarten play in a child’s personal growth, describe the methods of cooperation of educators and parents, and finally focus on the arrival of a new family member. I deal especially with the influence that this event has on a firstborn and how this is shown in a family environment, and also in preschool. I pointed out that, in such a situation, the participation of an adult is very important when it comes to dealing with the crisis of a firstborn. The main goal of my research was to find out what kind of changes can be observed in a child’s behaviour and how the preschool and its teachers help to tackle this problem. Analysis of the obtained data showed that firstborns can show their frustration at home, as well as in preschool, through different behavioural changes (baby talk, daytime wetting, physical/verbal aggression …) and emotional changes (anger, sadness, touchiness …). When noticing such changes, the preschool teachers involved in the research said that they are more supportive and understanding, give the child more positive touches (hugs), prepare activities on the topic of family, etc. They also pointed out that in such cases, working with parents is the key to better understanding of the child’s distress. I found that preschool teachers use different approaches when working with parents, such as: individual conversations, measures at the class level (reorganization of space, several playing corners on the topic of family), daily exchange of information about the child, educators also provide parents with a list of professional articles on this topic, pregnant mothers are invited to visit the children in the department and talk about their experiences, etc.
|