Five Ways Parents Can Help Handle Conflicts

Understand that you can make the situation worse. This is a sad truth, that with our best intentions, we can escalate a small incident into something bigger.

One thing I’ve learned through experience is that when there is an issue that involves our children — and I feel like they’ve been wronged — I need to take a deep breath.

And, I let a few days pass. I ask how our kids can settle an issue themselves before getting involved. I’m not talking about something serious where they could be in danger, but other issues like being signed up for events they don’t like or not making it into a higher level group.

Here are five tips to use at the pool and in other areas of your life with coaches, teachers and other parents:

ONE

Listen to your kids but do some research. It is possible that there are two sides to the story. If you only listen to your child, you may not have the whole picture.