“Stop fighting and go to your rooms!”
How often have we said this to our children
or heard our parents say that to us, too often, more than likely.
What are we teaching them when we referee our children’s
disagreements with each other? Our
raised voices ring out like the bell that signals this match is over and like boxing referee we send them to their corners until it is time to fight again, and the
operative word is ‘again.’
There is red Adirondack chair set out in pairs in the play
yard of our grandchildren’s school and these are called ‘friendship chairs’. This is where two fighting children are sent,
there sitting in close proximity to each other they are expected to resolve
their disagreement peacefully.
And tonight at the library we read the book ‘Hug it out!’ by
Louis Thomas. Here two fighting siblings
are directed to hug each other when they fight and as their arguments become
less and less they miss the closeness and stage a fight so they can hug.
Both the friendship chairs and the book provide children with
an alternative to fighting with each other, they provide the opportunity for
children to talk to each other, and children are left without adult supervision
with the expectation they will be successful in finding their own resolution.
“Stop fighting, sit down together and talk to each other”
Be mindful of you redirect children are you providing them the opportunity to find a peaceful resolution.
Grandma Snyder
©2013-2018 twosnydergirls
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