Teaching Children Conflict Resolution And The Power Of Collaboration

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How To Identify Conflict In Children:

Coping with stress, managing personal physical and mental hygiene, negotiating and resolving conflicts with siblings, balancing online and offline lives – the list of skills a child needs to transform into a successful adult are endless.

Sometimes conflict arises at home for a child. Anxiety comes with the uncertainty of new circumstances that both parents and growing children face. Anxiety arises when both the parent and child refuse to see the other’s point of view.

As they enter middle school, children are eager to meet peer expectations. Sometimes peer expectations can be in direct conflict with parental expectations. What is cool with his peers might be an absolute no no for a child’s parent.

Unresolved conflicts become barriers to learning for children especially if they fail to see other viewpoints in arguments. In such cases, their perspective becomes one-sided and it manifests in unwanted behaviors like disobedience and disagreements.

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The Current Moral Conundrum:

Today’s children are being exposed to news that showcase controversies and conflicts and images and videos of unrealistic standards of living – be it porn or flashy celebrity lifestyles. They are increasingly becoming victims to online sex predators and harassment, and are seeing images and videos of aggressive and violent behaviors.

When mainstream media shows children so many versions of how life can be lived, it’s difficult for them to understand their self-worth and the purpose of their own lives in the context of humanity. So, more than ever before, children of this digital generation need a direction to clarify and help interpret what a good and well lived life means.

At the same time, if we want to ensure every young person learns how to respond to conflict, we must make sure we don’t constantly add disclaimers to every “trigger warning” and allow them to naturally process their emotions and circumstances. After all, we can’t always promise to be there for them to shield them from the reality of real life.

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Inculcating Conflict Management Skills:

Children must be taught how to respect themselves, their peers and adults. Otherwise, they will not understand the value of living and working in harmony with people who don’t look like them or don’t have the same ideologies as them.

Allowing children to become socially engaged from an early age helps them understand the importance of relationships. Letting them resolve conflicts that occur due to misunderstandings and miscommunication will teach them how to manage and maintain long term friendships. After all, the biggest psychological source of stress for adults is conflict with others.

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Collaboration in Classrooms:

In a society where individualism is cherished, children with a teamwork spirit understand that there’s power in striving towards a common goal and enjoying the fruits of labor together.

Collaboration styles can be incorporated in different ways in a classroom. Ask them to create a shared document and multiple students edit and review it. Ask them to create a play, develop multiple characters and write dialogues for the story line.

Collaboration teaches children to respect others’ strengths. It helps them understand the types of interactions that don’t work. It shows them that effective teamwork is the one that operates within a framework of agreed upon guidelines. Overall, teamwork helps children see the value in relationships and how contribution and collaboration can lead to personal fulfillment.

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Our Collective Craving:

Bottom line. You’re driven by the need to BELONG, MATTER and make an positive IMPACT. So is everyone else. If by ourselves, we can make such a positive impact on our loved ones and strangers loved and matter, what can we all do collectively as a world?!

Let’s plan ways to our planet sustainable and our lives enduring. Let’s help our children build relationships that light their passion on fire and help their inner spirit to thrive. By surrounding themselves with fellow dreamers who believe that they too can change the world, our children can create a more unified and breathtaking future for themselves.

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