Making choices cultivates individuality and self-reliance. Only while making choices can children exercise their human faculties of perception, judgment, discriminative feeling, mental activity and even moral preference. The guidelines for DawnTalk cultivate individuality and self-reliance by offering children choices that honor their needs and their innocence.

Punishment and value judgments “discourage” children. A loss courage is a loss of dignity and self-respect. DawnTalk replaces ineffective traditional autocratic childcare (preaching, moralizing, accusing, ridiculing, belittling, evaluating, labeling, threatening, and punishing) with non-punitive and non-judgmental guidelines.

DawnTalk preserves a child’s dignity as well as protecting their delicate egos. The guidelines encourage a child’s efforts and accomplishments. Adults acknowledge what a child has done instead of how they have done it. The children are allowed to solve the problems they can and are encouraged to do more for themselves. This practice develops self-reliance while building self-esteem.

One of the most powerful desires of a child is to belong. DawnTalk teaches children preferred manners and customs. They learn friendly communication skills that are sensitive to democratic rights. They also learn altruistic forms of behavior such as, helping, sharing and giving, through modeled interactions with others. These skills enable children to build the friendships they desire.