Help with student comments.

[edavenport]

Hello,

A girl in my Nursery class keeps saying "I love you Mr Ed." My stock response is "I love having you in my class". We have a good relationship and she is a very confident, high functioning child. She always gives me a big cuddle each morning and is always happy to come to school.

She is not from a single parent family, but for work reasons, the family do have two homes. Dad stays in the second home most of the time, but both mum and child go there each weekend. Any advice on this?

[finleysmaid]

What is worrying you about this? Does she exhibit any other worries or is this simply a young child expressing love for someone who is really important in her life at the moment? Children of this age have little emotional literacy...they use words like love and hate !

[finleysmaid]

Just wanted to add that i assume you are in a school from the way you have written this.I would suggest you talk to your SMT about it as it is obviously worrying you. I don't have any issues with children saying they love me, i usually respond with some like "and you are very lovely" or "well that's a lovely thing to say" . They don't need you to tell them that you love them back, they just need to know they are appreciated and their feelings are respected.

[BenTapestrySupport]

I think your response is the right one - not dismissing the child's feelings, but also making them feel part of the class. 

As @finleysmaid says, they'll just be showing you that you're an important part of their lives. 

[edavenport]

Thank you for the responses. The reason I was concerned about it was because it was constant, nearly everyday. It does seem to have stopped now though. 

Thank you @finleysmaid for the suggestions; "and you are very lovely" or "well that's a lovely thing to say". A good point too about the lack of emotional language and understanding.