I have recently moved from Washington to Texas.  Any time there is a big move there are things that are different from one place to the next.  I knew this going into the move, however I thought in my chosen field of Early Childhood Education that some constants were true in each state.  Boy, I have been wrong.  One of the absolutely biggest shocks to me is the fact that some states still allow children to be spanked at school.  When my sibling reported that a child in the school she worked for was spanked, I was floored.  The first thing out of my mouth was that can’t be legal.  I mean even going back to when I was in High School (30 years ago), spanking was being band as a form of corporal punishment in schools. 

Therefore, I decided to do some research.  I was shocked to find that there are currently 19 states that still allow spanking to occur in school.  They are Idaho, Arizona, Wyoming, Colorado, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Texas, Indiana, Kentucky, Arkansas, Missouri, Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, and Louisiana.
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What do you think/know about spanking in school?

"I don't want to go outside." Then the refrigerator in the dramatic play area goes crashing to the floor.  What do you do? Your agency doesn't do time outs or corporal punishments.  You have to keep your co-workers and the other children safe but how.  Well picking up the child and holding them until they calm down seems like the best way to go.  I will tell you having experienced this situation I did not choose to hold the child.

The agency I worked for had very strict guidelines about restraining children. I had to find a way to keep the students and staff safe.   What I ended up doing was encouraging the children and staff to go outside and I would stay with the student.  Then I calmly addressed the child stating that I could not allow him to hurt my friends.  He would over turn things and then I would pick them up.  I would suggest to him other ways to express himself, such as hitting a pillow that was available in the classroom.  I would keep up a constant dialogue with him about why he didn't want to go outside.  If he started screaming at me to he wanted me to be quiet, I would be quiet but continue to pick things up and/or move my body so he could not destroy the room.  Eventually, he would begin to settle down and we would reach a solution for him to go join the rest of his class outside.  

Why didn't I pick up and hold him until he calmed down.  One like I stated my agency had strict guidelines about restraining a child.  I know many of you are thinking that picking up a child so that they can't cause damage or hurt others is not restraining a child.  You would be wrong.  I have attached an document from US Department of Education.
www2.ed.gov/policy/seclusion/restraints-and-seclusion-resources.pdf