Helping Kids Resolve Conflicts

Have you ever noticed that children often seem to be on a mission to create conflict? The minute one child picks up a toy another child decides he absolutely must play with that same toy right now. Boom - it's time to solve another conflict!

Learning Life Skills through Conflicts

Conflicts provide rich learning opportunities for children. By continually placing themselves in clashes, children work on developing important life skills like:

• Stating their position and understanding of a situation
• Negotiating resolutions that are acceptable to those involved
• Appreciating someone else's perspective
• Establishing boundaries
• Exercising self-control

Children learn these important life skills when they struggle to resolve their own conflicts. If you jump in and solve the problem for your kids, it reduces their learning opportunity. A better approach is to act as a mentor when your children come to you with a problem.

Guiding Children to Solving Problems

Resisting the urge to solve your kids' disagreements is not easy. In her book, Easy to Love, Difficult to Discipline, Becky Bailey describes a process to help children solve their own problems.

(Read the rest of the article on Priceless Parenting)