Are Little Kids Able to Resolve Conflict Peacefully?

Donatelle Family

Our mission is to help families find “peace and connection at home.” Sarah Donatelle, mom of two, took the Connected Families Siblings Conflict online course, and told us about how she was able to teach her children to reconcile with each other with the techniques she learned. We just had to share her story with you.

“I still get choked up at the image of my son and daughter beaming with their little hands clasped, so excited that they were like “THIS” again! What a gift to see them rejoice in reconciliation, and for my daughter to feel the freedom of being forgiven!” -Sarah

Connected Families: Sarah, will you share with us about your experience with the online courses you took through Connected Families?

Sarah: We did the DTC online course (as well as reading the book and going to a seminar), so we have been practicing and making progress on a lot of the principles. When we started the Sibling Conflict course, in the 2nd week, the homework was to think of something that would help resolve conflict more calmly.

Connected Families: How did you apply what you learned in the course?

Sarah: Because our kids are so young, we had to adapt some of the principles since they can’t resolve things the same way two elementary aged kids can. One thing that my daughter struggled with was getting really worked up emotionally. It may not even be in conflict moments, but moments of disappointment, frustration, etc. So, for our homework that second week, we decided we needed to be more intentional about making sure she knew that she could ask for space to calm down any time she feels big emotions. And to talk about it at a time that was not emotionally charged so she had a game plan for the times that her emotions are too big to think.

It is still a work in progress as she sometimes just asks for space when we ask her to do something she doesn’t want to do. So there’s still some fine tuning of the skill to be done – space isn’t an excuse to disobey, but a tool to help her calm down. But overall, it’s been very helpful. She even told Caleb one time when he was really worked up that, “Sometimes when I can’t stop crying, I go to the play room or Dad and Mom’s room and hug a stuffed animal to calm down. You could try that!” It was so sweet.

Thank you to everyone at Connected Families for your ministry and blessing in our family! Even though we have had to tuck many tips away for when our kids are a bit older, we have talked about how glad we are that we came across your ministry so early in our parenting journey! I would much rather lay a solid foundation as much as we can, than have to tear down bad habits and rebuild. Connected Families is a GIFT!!! THANK YOU!!!