Montessori themes at home: Winter Conflicts
Since the winter holidays are around the corner, children will be receiving a variety of gifts, candies and tokens from loved ones, such as teachers, family and friends. When there is more than one child involved, conflicts can occur. This is a good time to talk to your child about how to solve arguments in a peaceful, Montessori way. Below are tips to try at home for when conflicts with sharing and giving arise.
1. Help children gain a sense of connection, belonging and significance:
Awareness- “Do you remember a time when you were angry? How did that feel? How did your body feel?”
2. Mutual respectfulness and encouragement:
“What made you feel better?”
3. Long term:
Invite children to be a part of the solution.
Eliminate punitive time outs because you lose a critical teaching moment and the child is left feeling not understood and unloved (“You learn better when you feel better.”).
Create a space, such as a peace table, peace corner, etc. – where children can calm down or talk.
For Toddlers and Younger Children:
1. Model self-regulation by taking deep breaths to calm down before resolving conflict.
2. Comfort and include the child in the solution making by using phrases, such as:
“I see that Tommy is crying. What should we do to make him feel better?”
“What happened when you pushed Tommy?”
“I noticed he fell over when you pushed him.”
3. Model gentle touch.
4. Ask curiosity questions, such as:
“Why is the bike not working?”
5. Redirect the child to purposeful activity.
6. Take the time to teach by utilizing modeling strategies, such as: using Photo Puppets (made from card stock) and act out a scenario.
Information from http://carrotsareorange.com/montessori-home-conflict-resolution/
Prepared by Ms. Meredith.
To access a pdf handout of this information, Click HERE.
