7.1 Develop effective strategies to support children’s ability to manage significant life events and daily micro transitions

This guide will help you answer 7.1 Develop effective strategies to support children’s ability to manage significant life events and daily micro transitions.

Supporting children during major life changes and daily transitions is a core responsibility for Early Years Practitioners. Both significant life events, such as bereavement or starting school, and smaller everyday transitions, like moving between activities, can be challenging for a child. These moments may affect their emotions, behaviour, and well-being. Creating effective strategies can help children manage these situations in a positive way.

What are Children’s Needs?

When supporting children, it’s essential to focus on their developmental needs and their individual responses to change. Children experience change differently depending on their age, temperament, and past experiences. For example, toddlers might struggle with separations from parents, while older children might find it harder to cope with emotional events like family separations.

You should aim to provide a nurturing and stable environment while recognising the specific challenges each child faces. For some children, transitions and life events can lead to overwhelming feelings of anxiety, fear, or confusion, and they may not yet have the skills to express or manage these feelings. By understanding a child’s viewpoint, you can provide targeted support.

The Role of the Key Person

The key person plays a significant role in helping children manage transitions and events. Building strong, secure relationships with children allows them to feel safe and valued. A key person supports emotional security, helping children develop resilience in times of change.

For example, when a child starts nursery, the key person can introduce themselves gradually and spend extra time building trust. This might involve playing together, offering comfort, and being a consistent, reassuring presence.

Ways of Managing Daily Micro Transitions

Daily micro transitions occur frequently in a child’s day. These might include moving from playtime to lunchtime, tidying up, or transitioning between home and nursery. These small changes can feel disruptive to children, particularly those who thrive on routine.

Here are practical strategies to ease daily transitions:

• Prepare children in advance – Use verbal and visual cues to let children know a change is coming. For example, “In five minutes, we will start tidying up for lunch.”
• Use consistent routines – Create predictable daily schedules. Consistency helps children feel safe and understand what comes next.
• Allow time for adjustment – For example, allow transition time between indoors and outdoors, so children have the chance to settle and refocus.
• Involve children in transitions – Let them play an active role in the process. For example, during tidy-up time, make it fun by singing clean-up songs or using a game.
• Acknowledge how they feel – If a child is upset or hesitant, show them understanding by saying, “I can see you’re feeling sad that playtime is over. Let me help you.”

Supporting Significant Life Events

Significant life events, such as the arrival of a sibling, moving house, or the loss of a loved one, can deeply impact a child. While you cannot take away the challenging emotions they experience, you can provide tools and strategies to help them manage.

To support a child through a major event:

Listen and observe

• Pay attention to how the child communicates their emotions, both verbally and non-verbally.
• Create opportunities for them to talk about their feelings. Some children may use play or drawings to express themselves.

Offer reassurance

• Provide physical and emotional comfort. Reassure the child that it’s okay to have big feelings.
• Stay calm and be a steady presence. Your behaviour can model how to handle stress or sadness.

Explain changes simply

• Use age-appropriate words. For example, if a child is dealing with the death of a pet, explain it clearly: “The pet was very old, and now they have died. It’s sad, but we can talk about how much we loved them.” Avoid using unclear terms such as “gone to sleep,” as this may cause confusion.

Engage parents and carers

• Collaborate with parents to share strategies and provide consistent messages across the home and setting environments.
• Encourage open communication so the child gets a united approach from all adults in their life.

Building Emotional Resilience

Part of helping children manage transitions and life events is supporting the development of emotional resilience. Emotional resilience is the ability to adapt and bounce back from challenges. Teaching these skills early helps children feel more confident when facing future changes.

You can strengthen resilience through strategies such as:

• Encouraging self-expression – Show children how to express their thoughts and feelings. Use emotion cards, storybooks, or role play to teach emotional vocabulary.
• Teaching coping tools – Provide simple tools like breathing exercises for calming down. For example, blow pretend bubbles together to help a child regulate their breathing.
• Celebrating achievements – Reward small efforts during challenging transitions. For example, praise a child for settling in successfully at circle time after struggling initially.
• Normalising emotions – Help children understand that feeling sad, worried, or scared is a normal part of life. For instance, say, “It’s okay to feel a bit nervous on your first day. Lots of people feel like that.”

Creating a Safe Environment

A safe and supportive early years environment is essential for promoting children’s sense of security. Children are more likely to feel calm and manage transitions if they feel rooted in a predictable setting.

Create a safe environment by:

• Following a consistent routine that children can rely on.
• Using visual timetables, so children can see how their day is organised.
• Providing comforting objects, such as blankets, photos from home, or favourite toys, especially during times of uncertainty.

You could introduce a “calm corner” in your setting. This is a quiet space with soft furnishings, sensory resources, or books, where children can relax and take time to adjust during periods of emotional overwhelm.

Using Stories and Puppets

Books and puppets are valuable for teaching children about managing emotions and changes. They allow children to explore complex feelings indirectly, making it less intimidating for them to engage.

Choose storybooks tailored to specific events, such as starting school, a new baby, or grief. Discuss the characters’ emotions and ask open questions like, “How do you think the character felt when that happened?” Puppets can also be used for role play to help children act out scenarios they find difficult.

Building Positive Relationships

Strong relationships with trusted adults help children feel protected and understood during times of change. Take time to form a genuine bond with the child by:

• Spending quality one-on-one time.
• Offering lots of positive encouragement and words of affirmation.
• Being patient and accepting, especially if the child has challenging behaviours during transitions.

Working With Additional Needs

Some children with additional needs, such as Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), may find transitions especially difficult. These children often struggle to adapt to new or unexpected routines and require extra support.

For example:

• Use social stories (short descriptions of a situation, event, or activity) to prepare the child for what is ahead.
• Offer visual aids like picture cards to reinforce understanding of routines.
• Allow extra time for transitions and reduce any potential sensory overload (e.g. avoid noisy or overstimulating environments).

Using Observation and Reflection

Observing children closely during transitions will help you assess their progress and identify when additional support is needed. Take note of how they respond to different strategies and reflect on what works well or needs adjusting.

For example, if a child consistently struggles at drop-off time, observe whether it helps when their parent stays for five minutes to settle them. Reflect on whether gradual separation or attachment objects could offer further support.

Collaborating With Other Professionals

Sometimes, significant life events might require the involvement of specialist services. For instance, if a child is experiencing severe anxiety due to parental separation or loss, seek advice from child psychologists, family support workers, or speech and language therapists (if the child struggles to express emotions).

Work collaboratively by sharing observations and insights while maintaining confidentiality where needed. Use these professionals’ expertise to implement specialised strategies in your setting.

Celebrating Successes

Seeing a child make progress, even small steps, is incredibly rewarding. Celebrate achievements in managing transitions or adapting to life events. For example, if a previously nervous child becomes confident at drop-off time, acknowledge their effort with positive praise.

Helping children develop transition management skills equips them for a lifetime of coping with change. By combining thoughtful strategies, a supportive environment, and genuine care, you set a strong foundation for their emotional health and resilience.