Posts Tagged "friend"

“I’m gonna hit him”

“I’m gonna hit him”

My preschooler came out of her room and stomped once. I carried her back to bed. As I turned to leave, she called out: “When we were camping, C wanted to be alone, and I kept at him, and he hurt me. He hit me first. I hit him second. Next time we go camping, I'm going to hurt C.” “Then I'm afraid we can't go camping with C,” I said gently, hoping she would see the error in her ways (but...

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I want it! You’re not my friend anymore!

I want it! You’re not my friend anymore!

Do these situations sound familiar? At an in-service training I did for preschool teachers, I was asked a few questions about children fighting. These could come up at home or at school, so I wanted to share them with you. Although these sample responses were designed for younger children, they actually apply to older children as well. That's no surprise when you remember that the Language of...

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Unraveling Tension

Unraveling Tension

  What do you do when something just has to get done, and you and your child get all knotted up over it? Dr. Lawrence Cohen, author of Playful Parenting and co-author of The Art of Roughhousing, suggests this, reprinted from his newsletter with permission. His analogy of an actual "knot" helps you unravel the tension. The Knot of Tension   A Knot of Tension is a set of distressing...

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