Conflict Resolution in Early Childhood

Book excerpt: For courses in the Guidance and Management of Young Children. This text examines the nature of conflict among 2- to 8-year-olds from a research-based, constructivist/ecological perspective - integrating themes of caring, building classroom community, connecting curriculum, involving family and community, and responding to the current educational climate. The author thoroughly discusses children's conflicts, emphasizing that peer and community culture make up the foundation for preventing and resolving conflict, and advocates teaching conflict resolution skills via a "three-layer-cake" of understanding, management, and resolution. Coverage presents ways to create a caring classroom - both in physical environment and curriculum, to work with other adults in a child's life, and to implement peer mediation. Throughout, the material stresses the need to understand all children in light of applicable theory and current "best practice" in culturally responsive and inclusive classrooms.