Establishing rapport with preschool-age children: Implications for practitioners

Professionals must often deal with children apart from their mothers. What techniques can be used to facilitate adjustment to maternal separation and establish rapport? Previous recommendations seem contradictory and are rarely based on research findings. In their mother's presence, sixty-four 3 1/2-year-olds were greeted with either a gradual or quick approach by a female stranger who interacted with them for either 0, 1, 10, or 20 min. (The 20 min included a 10-min home visit 1 day earlier.) The children were subsequently left alone with the stranger in another room. Lengthier preliminary interaction by the stranger resulted in the children's electing to remain with her longer before leaving the room to return to their mother-but only when the stranger approached them quickly. Conversely, shorter preliminary interactions led to children's returning to their mother more slowly than did lengthier initial interactions if the children originally received an extended, gradual greeting. Any positive effects from visiting the children at their home were nullified by having approached them gradually. Thus, too much preparation may be deleterious for establishing rapport. In contrast to the matter-of-fact, quick greeting, the excessive extended greeting may have served to signal children that aversive events were imminent. Interacting with children beforehand can help establish rapport and adaptation to novel situations; however, overdoing this preparation may have deleterious effects.