The infant is sitting on the adult’s lap. She is being fed by the adult. She looks up toward the adult’s face. She moves her arms and her body to show excitement.

Adult mirrors the child’s body language. The adult talks to the child continuously and describes the child’s emotions (“excited”).

She labels emotions and she is showing that adults are responsive. She is building a solid relationship.

A child falls. Other children come to check on her and make sure she is OK (show concern for hurt friend). They play near each other with the same toys and sometimes seem to copy each other’s falling behavior.

Encourages and recognizes making sure friends are OK and helping friends.

The adult maintains a social climate on the playground. She reinforces the children’s compassion

A child is visibly upset. She tells the adult that another child pushed her from playground equipment and she didn’t like it.

The adult asks whether the girl told the other children that she didn’t like it. She offers to go with the girl to talk to the children.

The adult is recognizing the child’s emotion. She is helping identify the source of the emotion and helping the child find ways to respond. She is building connections between peers while also helping an individual child recognize and deal with emotions.

Two boys had some sort of disagreement and there was name-calling. Both boys are upset and are sitting at the table with an adult.

The adult makes sure each boy was heard. She refers the boys to the program’s guidelines and emphasizes respect.

The adult is teaching the boys it is important to be respectful and that it is important to talk about problems when they arise.