It's wildly pervasive in our field to give kids choices when in reality, something isn't a choice.
"It's time to clean up now, ok?"
Yikes.
That's inferring a choice where there is none!
We put that upswing, infer a question, or even use the "...ok?" at the end of sentences that should really be statements.
By doing so, we are inadvertently inviting power struggles.
We're inviting children to say "NO!" (and many of them do).
If you do want to give children a choice, make sure you offer two choices that work for you as the adult.
For example, "do you want to take Pete the Cat or Abiyoyo to your mat for rest time?"
Or, "Do you want to clean up the big long rectangle blocks or the little squares? I'm gonna do the medium rectangles.."
When you offer those two choices for clean up time, you might have a child who likes to be adversarial say angrily, "I WANT TO DO THE MEDIUM RECTANGLES!!!!"
To which you can calmly say, "Oh! Well....OK. Which ones should I do?"
(Because if they want to express themselves passionately about what they want to clean up that's actually fantastic).
So, my question for you is: might you inadvertently be inviting kids to say NO by saying "...ok?" or offering choices (that don't work for you as the adult)?