I just finished helping 5-year-old Janie and almost 5-year-old Olivia work through a BIG conflict at my home-based school, so it was a good time to reflect on how we resolve conflicts between friends. I hope some of these ideas will help families and teachers with the conflicts that inevitably come up between friends and siblings at home and at school. As you can see from this story, figuring out what happened can sometimes take a little time.
Too many adults have no idea what they want because the adults in their young lives never got quiet enough to let them speak. As parents of young children, when we are asked what our children want, we assume we know (sometimes correctly and sometimes not) and usually speak for them–especially when they are babies and toddlers. It’s perfectly natural. After all, who knows them best?
