Young children are full of energy and often get involved in fights. They are seen arguing on the playground, or there could be a clash over choices due to distinctive personalities. Moreover, these quarrels also disrupt their educational journey. Even the assignment help specialists perceive conflict management as a significant factor in affecting the academic performance of students.
Since the emotional state is hampered, it eventually starts showing up in their studies. Hence, it is highly important to guide them through this phase. The onus is on the educators as well as parents.
One way is to inculcate practical skills of managing this tricky and stressful situation. Nevertheless, healthy ways of conflict resolution are something we should focus on. After all, it paves way for future growth and personality development.
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Conflict Management: Definition & Causes
In simple words, conflict management is a disagreement or clash that arises due to differences in thinking and behavior.
When it comes to young children, the existence of clashes leads to uncomfortable feelings. It could make a child feel anxious, angry, fearful, uneasy, etc.
Conflicts are an inevitable part of our everyday life. It is something that directly affects our natural actions. Especially among young children, conflicts could arise over multiple issues, such as:
- Power
- Space
- Ideas
- Relationships
- Toys
- Partial understanding, etc.
Academic assignments could also be a reason for stress that gradually turns into conflicts. In such cases, you look for homework help services to eliminate the root cause of this very feeling.
It is essential to tackle the problem as early as possible. Moving in the right direction also results in positive social, emotional, and intellectual growth. Moreover, it promotes feelings of respect for elders and peers.
Conflict Management: The Role Of Parents & Educators
There are certain ways teachers can act as a catalyst in fostering conflict management among children.
- Responding to the conflicts happening in the classrooms.
- Anticipating the occurrence of a conflict in groups or individuals.
- Supporting all the children involved in the conflict management. Doing this fosters positive feelings and growth.
- Parents should stand as a pillar with an unbiased stance on the situation. Nothing could be better than becoming their role model while the child is experiencing a rush of emotions.
- Here are a few ways through which parents can help the young ones through conflicts:
- Finding positive, calming, and kind ways to address and resolve the issues among children.
- Lend a helping hand to the kids and let them discuss their feelings openly. Address their emotions and categorize them accordingly.
- Empower the child’s mindset if they are feeling low due to rejections of failures. Be there to assist them through their situations.
Important Strategies: Teach Conflict Management To Children
1. Understanding & Accepting Their Feelings
One of the most crucial factors in a situation of conflict and tension is assessing and understanding your feelings. A lot of times many underlying issues could lead to anger and frustration.
Therefore, addressing the problem requires evaluating the source of conflict. You can tell about these feelings by reading facial expressions. A visual feelings chart would be helpful.
Moreover, the way your body feels allows a more personalized idea about the situation.
This happens with students quite often. A kid may be going through an ocean of emotions. Thus, you can separate kids into various small groups.
Further, introduce each group with certain possible scenarios that generate a particular emotion in their brains. You may ask them to journal their emotions. It will give them and you a clear picture of what’s happening in their minds.
2. Evaluating The Gravity Of The Problems
Problems are bound to cross our pathways. But, that does not mean you would start losing your mind over trial issues. Hence, it is vital to help them analyze the size and weightage of conflicts.
An excellent way to manage this issue is by discussing various problems through practical examples. It may include anything; from handling the daily homework tasks to facing challenges through friendships. Placing the issues into different categories works really well.
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3. The Stoplight Technique
This technique is appropriate for assessing the exact nature of feelings. Moreover, this one is a psychological exercise. Ask the kid to visualize a stoplight.
If the color of the light is red, help him in calming down by performing deep breathing exercises. In case the light is yellow, evaluate the issue. Discuss and verify whether or not the child can manage the problem on its own. Be there if help is required. Present some feasible strategies to help them resolve the problem faster.
The green color of light indicates that the feeling is gradually subsiding. Further, it shows that you can finally implement conflict resolution techniques. Consistent practice of this wonderful process gets absorbed in their minds. Hence, they can utilize it whenever the condition arises.
4. Let Them Open-Up & Discuss Their Feelings
It is a common tendency for all human beings to feel explode after suppressing their feelings for too long. Similarly, young kids react outrageously to incidents that upset them.
Consequently, it hinders their ability to think unbiasedly. Thus, you must encourage them to speak up about their feelings in a calm way. A healthy discussion develops their approach towards handling such situations.
This is when we need to cut the blame-game ideology. Teach the child to describe their feelings using “I” statements. Even if they got affected by someone’s actions, never motivate them to perceive it in a blaming way.
How you describe your emotions eventually shapes up your personality in the longer run.
5. Inculcate Problem Solving Skills
Usually, parents want to protect their children. Therefore, whenever there is an issue, it is a natural tendency of parents to take the charge and look into different fixes. While it would help instantly, this strategy does not serve long-lasting results.
Hence, you can indulge them in the brainstorming activity and find their own solutions. How?
Listen to your child and let them narrate the incident from scratch to the end. Once they are done, ask them to choose a color. Further, let them think of and enlist every possible solution regarding the matter.
If they fought with their friend, ask them to imagine everything from the other concerned person’s viewpoint. Seeing things from someone else’s perspective could be a bit challenging. However, it is very helpful.
Now, ask them to make a list of solutions from their friend’s point of view. Then comes the most important point. Indulge your child in finding a common ground for the matter.
Brainstorming ideas and resolutions would enable them to see things from a different perspective. It would improve their relationship with friends and classmates. Further, they would grow up as empathetic individuals.
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6. Be A Role Model
Children learn from what they observe. Hence, parents should always implement their conflict resolution suggestions into practice.
When you get stuck in unwanted situations, what is your reaction? Share your real-life experience with the child to help them understand how it’s done. Both, your success and failures would serve as a learning guide for the children.
7. Transforming Problems Into Opportunities
Problems can teach you a lot in life. However, only with consistent efforts in the right direction, you can attain success in any area. Similarly, at times of conflict, you must encourage kids to practice responding to the issues.
Moreover, make them aware of the pros and cons of every option that comes across their mind. Doing this would help them make a conscious choice during real-life circumstances.
Furthermore, the education of conflict resolution helps children gain positive recognition among their peers. Not everyone can fight against the odds in life. Hence, the appreciation pushes them to become better and find more feasible ways to solve issues.
Additional Tips To Help Children Through Conflicts
While it is true that kids are pure-hearted, yet piling up everything inside can turn them aggressive and resentful. You can utilize these strategies for solving differences between children.
- Have a sit-down conversation: Make the children sit down facing each other and ask them about the issue. This works well for children above 3 years of age.
- Let them discuss the issue with each other: A responsible and fruitful approach would be encouraging both the kids to talk to each other. Ask them to look into each other’s eyes and tell their sides of the story. Patiently listening would be helpful.
- Help them address and accept their mistakes: After hearing both sides, you should present an abstract of the situation. Further, address the role of each party in building up the issue. Then, look for possible results.
- Encourage children to make efforts for restoring the situation: Let both the children evaluate the situation and find solutions to make things better. What can they do to prevent such a situation in the future? Moreover, you should never force them to apologize. However, inform them of how it would help. Look for more ways to fix the issue.
- Motivate kids to implement the plan: Once the situation starts cooling down, encourage children to execute their plan. Let them play without any further conflicts. Eventually, they would start enjoying each other’s company.
Final Words of Conflict Management
It is impossible to eliminate conflicts from life. However, you can definitely tackle them with proper strategies and consistent efforts. Especially, when it comes to young children, the value of conflict resolution increases tremendously. They are full of energy and lack an understanding of problem-solving skills.
Parents and teachers should always focus on addressing the root cause and presenting appropriate solutions. If your child is facing issues due to academic load, consider hiring online assignment help experts. It would definitely take off half the burden from their delicate shoulders.
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