Conflict Resolution Education - National Criminal Justice Reference ...

Chapter 7: Parent and Community
Initiatives
The impact of school-based conflict resolution programs
increases when they are linked with community
and parent education programs that allow
students to apply their skills in productive ways in a
variety of settings. This linkage is important because
young people face a challenge in applying conflict
resolution training in the community and in the
home, especially with others who are not similarly
trained.
Parent Education
Children must possess a secure and positive sense
of their own identity and their place in the world,
and they must acquire character and skills that enable
them to live in harmony with their families and
the larger community. Development of these skills
depends upon trusting and loving relationships,
the first and most fundamental of which is between
children and their parents. Families are the settings
where children’s basic needs are met and where
they learn lessons about personal relationships and
problem solving. For children, families are the basic
training ground for developing the capacity to function
responsibly and to solve problems peacefully.
Educating parents in conflict resolution is essential.
According to Brendtro and Long, any comprehensive
effort to eliminate disputes and violence will
require a full range of services, including, but not
limited to, school-based programs. 2 If patterns of
conflict and aggression are to be reversed, primary
prevention and early intervention must be priorities.
Primary Prevention
Troubled behavior, once launched, perpetuates itself
throughout a person’s life. Therefore, interventions
53
The circle is a sacred symbol of life. . . .
Individual parts within the circle connect
with every other; and what happens to
one, or what one part does, affects all
within the circle.
Virginia Driving Hawk Sneve 1
that affect the lives of young children in families and
schools deserve the highest priority. These interventions
include: 3
♦ Strengthening parenting bonds. Children are
less prone to violence when their basic needs are
met and they are reared in consistent, safe, and
loving environments.
♦ Teaching children self-discipline. Beginning in
elementary school, all children should be given
“basic training” in self-discipline. Teachers can
be trained to use naturally occurring discipline
problems to create school cultures of nonviolence.
♦ Teaching conflict resolution. Students need to be
competent in resolving both conflicts with peers
and authority problems with adults. This competence
forms the basis for lifelong survival skills.
Early Intervention
It is important to recognize that some youth are at
risk for violence in their early years and should be
provided with effective, comprehensive experiences
in school, at home, and in the community. The following
research-validated interventions should be
part of a logical system for reducing delinquent and
self-defeating behavior: 4