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Teaching Children to Resolve Conflict Many adults feel discouraged when their children bicker or resist requests made of them. How do we teach children to cooperate and resolve conflict? If we want children to stop fighting we must teach them new skills for resolving conflict. They need to learn problem-solving skills and develop avenues for generating lots of alternatives for getting what they want in socially acceptable ways. We also want them to become independent without delaying response or accountability until the "absent" parent returns home. It has been found that a child's ability to get what he or she wants in an acceptable manner is directly related to the number of solutions or alternatives the child can think of in a situation. A child who can think of five ways to get what he wants will generally display more socially acceptable behavior than the child who can think of only one or two ways. Some general steps in teaching problem-solving skills to children are presented here.
The process of teaching problem-solving often seems tedious, and parents may be tempted to just tell a child what to do. But that does not allow children to gain the experience of thinking of what to do for themselves. OSU Extension Home & Away Series (HYG-5195-98)
Summer Activities for Fun and Learning Children eagerly look forward to summer vacation only to complain about being bored after a few weeks (or days)! You can help your child overcome summer boredom by being prepared with a variety of activities that are both fun and educational. Here are some ideas to get you started. Explore Insects This season provides a wonderful opportunity to explore insects. Visit the library and find some books on insects. Find a magnifying glass, make a bug box, and begin to explore the wonders of these creatures. Some questions to ask are:
Two insects that might be found this year are the Multicolored Asian Lady Beetle and Cicadas (locusts). Both are interesting insects. Multicolored Asian Lady Beetle Beginning in October 1993, large numbers of Lady Beetles were reported on homes and other buildings in Ohio. Sometimes they congregate on outside windows, doors, or porch decks. These beetles do not bite, sting, or carry human diseases, nor feed on wood, clothing, of food. The only real danger is that they are annoying. They benefit agriculture as they feed on harmful aphids and other nuisances found on trees, shrubs, bushes, and crops. Periodical Cicadas or 17 Year Locust Cicadas are sucking insects about 1.5 inches long that begin appearing in May through July. They are black with reddish-orange eyes and legs, Clear wings with orange veins that are held roof like over their bodies help identify them. These insects emerge from the ground once every 17 years in the northern parts of the country, each year in a different section. Male cicadas make a loud buzzing noise and squawk when disturbed. Periodical cicadas damage trees above and below the ground. The damage is caused by egg laying in small trees. Cicadas do not bite or sting and have no known toxic chemicals. Like the Lady Beetle, cicadas are usually a nuisance because of their numbers and loud piercing call. If you are interested in additional information call your local Extension Office and ask for the fact sheets on these insects. Source: OSU Extension Family Life Month Packet 1999, Spring Family Activities, Anita Pulay. FLM-SC-2-99. All you need is a clear, large, wide-mouth plastic container and a smaller plastic container or drinking glass that fits inside, leaving a space about one-half to three-quarters of an inch wide. Careful - if the space is to wide, you won't be able to see the tunnels. Fill the area between the two containers with dirt, tapping gently. Add ants from your garden or backyard and place a screen over the top for air. (If you can dig up a queen ant ~ she's larger ~ you'll extend the life of the ant farm.) Every few days, drop in a bit of candy, jam, or fruit sweetened cereal. In a week or so, you should have a top notch tunneling operation Source: Backpack Buddies, May-Kindergarten. BB-K-9 Required:
If your cloverbuds are taking a field trip this summer, you may want some rules about "appropriate" road snacks. Grease, juice, goo and crumbs are major culprits for mess. If you choose foods with one or more of these attributes, you may want to be prepared with wet wipes, paper towels, or bath towels. Following are some snacks that will travel fairly well:
Always pack individual water bottles for each traveler. Note that water is very effective at quenching thirst, doesn't stain, and isn't sticky. When buying snacks for the road, use the USDA Food Guide Pyramid and the Nutrition Facts Food Label as tools to help you assess the nutrient value. In general, individual servings of commercially prepared snacks will be more expensive. If you have time and the skill to make snacks or repackage family size packages, you have more control over the portion size and ingredients (salt, fat, sugar, and fiber). Tie one end of the string to the golf tee or nail and the other end to the handle of the milk jug. Put the bar of soap into the toe of one leg of the panty hose. Tie the pantyhose to the handle of the milk jug. Using the nail or tee poke a hole in the side of the milk jug. Using the nail or tee poke a hole in the side of the milk jug close to the bottom edge. Fill the jug with water and use the panty hose to tie it to a tall object. When you need to wash your hands, unscrew the lid and remove the tee or nail from the holes. Replace the tee when finished. Ingredients:
Source: Iowa State University Extension, Food for Fitness and Fun, July, 1999.
In a 1-gallon freezer weight bag, mix:
Place 1 quart sherbet bag inside 1 gallon bag. Wrap in terry towel to protect hands from cold. Agitate 8-10 minutes. When firm, remove sherbet bag from rock salt mixture. Dry bag on towel. Use scissors to cut hole in a bottom corner of the bag. Squeeze mixture into serving cups. Makes 7-1/2 cup servings. In a 1 Quart freezer bag mix:
Sherbet for Two For 2-person Orange Shakin' Sherbet combine in a 1-pint freezer weight bag: 1/2 cub Orange juice , 1 cup skim milk, 1 tablespoon lemon juice, 1/3 cup sugar, 1/4 teaspoon orange rind (optional), Optional drops of food color: 1 red and 2 yellow. Go ahead take a walk!!! Get out of here!!! Well, taking a walk with our Cloverbud groups and clubs is just the thing to do right now in beautiful Ohio as nature comes springing into life. We can stimulate and enhance practically all of our Cloverbud life skill goals by taking a walk with a purpose. Advancing physical mastery skills are obvious with the gross motor activity needed for walking. Other skills such as getting along with others is necessary to walk and observe nature as a group, while self-confidence is nurtured through understanding and learning about the environment that surrounds the Cloverbud children. So what kind of walk do you want to take with your Cloverbud Kids? In the latest Young Children issue, Janet Humphryes (2000) suggests six types of walks with a focus for children to experience. Here they are: Theme Walks - focus on a particular theme - such as colors, shadows, seeds, insects, rocks, or whatever you and the groups decides. Sense Walks - explore the senses, what smells, sights, sounds, etc. do you encounter on the walk. Weather Walks - focus on the whatever weather is occurring, check out the sky, wind, or rain that might be going on at the time of walk. Search-for-Life Walks - look for all types of life that is present in the air, nests in the trees, tracks, burrow holes, etc. Intellectual Walks - focus on processing or gaining new information, change in seasons, path directions with a compass (North, South, East, and West). Clean-the-Environment-Walks - clean up nature. Take along trash bags and plastic gloves. Talk about how pollution can be a problem. So go ahead! Get out of here!!! TAKE A WALK!!!!! Scott D. Scheer
A nature walk can be a real adventure for you and your Cloverbuds. Together you can find lots of interest in a nearby park or even your own backyard. Plan a time when you can go slow, taking the time to observe the environment. Let your children's interests guide your pace, the goal in a nature walk is to observe and explore whatever you find interesting, not to cover a lot of ground or to provide a science lecture. Talk together about what you see, encourage your Cloverbuds to share their observations. Observe with all your senses, notice textures, sounds and smells along with the sights. During winter, look for tracks in the snow or other signs of birds and animals. In warmer weather, take a hula hoop with you, place the hoop on the ground and together study all that you find inside it. Plan to make a record of your walk when you and your Cloverbuds return. Together you can write in a journal or make a poster about what you observed. Take a camera with you and use the photographs from your walk to illustrate your words. Or make pictures together of what you saw. Turn your nature walk into a study of the seasons by returning to the same location across different seasons. Adapted from Backpack Buddies, May-Kindergarten. BB-K-9. |
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All educational programs conducted by Ohio State University Extension are available to clientele on a nondiscriminatory basis without regard to race, color, creed, religion, sexual orientation, national origin, gender, age, disability or Vietnam-era veteran status. Keith L. Smith, Associate Vice President for Ad. Admin. and Director,
OSU Extension TDD No. 800-589-8292 (Ohio only) or 614-292-1868 |
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