Learning to Resolve Conflicts With Role Play

Talk to your child about what it means to have a conflict, when people argue or disagree about something.

Ask your child to tell you about a time when she and a friend had a conflict. How did it make her feel? How did her friend feel? Ask her what strategies they used to resolve the conflict.

Have your child choose two stuffed animals to use to role play. Together, pretend that the stuffed animals disagree about something, such as what game to play.

Ask your child to think of some solutions so that the stuffed animals can play together.

Act them out! What solutions seemed to work best?

Talk together about how people often have different feelings and that it's important to try and see things from the perspectives of others. When trying to resolve a conflict, it's important that each person explains how they are feeling and why they are feeling that way. Once everyone has expressed their feelings, ask, "How can we solve this problem?" Think of possible solutions for the conflict such as taking turns, sharing, apologizing, and working together. The next time your child uses one of these strategies to resolve a conflict, remember to praise her. For example, "I liked how you worked hard to solve that problem."