What Is Mistaken Behavior

In my study of the guidance approach, I have learned to change my thinking of misbehavior. Before I thought if it wasn’t good behavior it must be misbehavior but with children it may be mistaken behavior. If children's behavior should be given a name, it should be considered Mistaken Behavior. The term misbehavior should be considered something adults do. Adults are supposed to know better, when they do something that is considered inappropriate. Children on the other hand do not know better, although we expect them to know better when they reach a certain age. “Traditional discipline punishes children for having problems they cannot solve, while guidance teaches children to solve their problems in socially acceptable ways (Gartrell, 2003)”.
A teacher should apply the guidance approach when dealing with mistaken behavior. For example, when children had a conflict over the swing at Roseville preschool, the teacher approached the children and tried to involve them in creating a fair solution. The teacher encouraged the children’s input in solving the conflict and talking about their problem to avoid fighting or arguing .The teacher did not treat the behavior as misbehavior because that would imply the child has behaved bad and deserves to be disciplined. Instead, the teacher treated the situation as behavior that was misguided. This allows for children to learn from their mistakes rather than punishing them for their mistakes. The concept of mistaken behavior consists of three different levels which include experimentation, socially influenced, and strong needs.
Experimentation is level one of mistaken behavior and is the desire by children to explore the environment and engage in relationships and activities.
This is when a child is motivated by his or her natural curiosity and becomes involved in an unintentional conflict by a new situation getting out of hand (due to lack of experience). The experimentation level is the beginning of the learning process where a lot of patience and guidance is the best approach in enhancing the child’s learning self-esteem and self-confidence with appropriate behaviors. For example, a child in one of the kindergarten classes I worked in drew a picture of an octopus on a wall with crayons. This child was experimenting and did not yet know the rules due to lack of experience, I remembered she got put in time out. After learning about the guidance approach, the situation could have been dealt with differently and someone could have patiently explained to her where it is okay to color and where it is
not.
Socially influenced is level two of mistaken behavior and is when children desire to please and identify with significant others.
It’s when a child has had some experience in learning due to impressions or reinforced behaviors carried out by significant people in their lives. Sometimes it is as unintentional as social influences and may include cartoon characters superheroes from video games or television, along with parents, siblings, friends, neighbors, caregivers or teachers. My daughter told me a story about a child who was socially influenced. When she was baby-sitting at my husband’s work, there were four children and one child refused to share any toys or food, hogging everything to himself. When my daughter asked him to please share, he replied, “My mom says I don’t have to share anything because I’m first class”. This is an example of a child who was socially influenced by his mother. My daughter talked to his mother and they agree to talk to her kid to make sure that he understand the rules and they had a group meeting. “A child who uses an expletive in a classroom exactly as an adult would is showing a socially influenced mistaken behavior.(Gartrell, p.14,
2004)”
Lastly, strong needs is level three of mistaken behavior, it consists of a child’s inability to be able to cope with problems which results from health conditions and life experiences. “Through withdrawal or acting out, these children are asking for help in the only way the can (Gartrell, 2003).” A child may act their anxieties, fears, frustrations, tantrums, hostility, inattentiveness, and fatigue withdrawal out in the classroom. These behaviors usually increase over time and need prompt attention in finding what and why and dealing with the behavior and addressing the problem so the child can learn to cope constructively. This occurred when I was working on the playground and there was a girl who had just moved from Russia and spoke no English. I remember she was very frustrated that she could not communicate with the teachers or other children; then one day she burst into a tantrum. With time and patience, the girl eventually learned English and was able to cope with her surroundings. Her tantrum was a result of strong needs.