7 Lesson 1: Handling Conflict at Home
Dealing with conflicts at home is often tough. You are close to your family and it is easy to fall into old, unhelpful patterns of communication. On the Web site below you will learn some practical approaches to handling conflict at home, including constructive listening.
Link to explore: Teen Health – Relationships with Parents – Working it Out: http://www.cyh.com/HealthTopics/HealthTopicDetails.aspx?p=243&np=291&id=2230
- Start at the Teen Health Web site.
- Read through page on working out relationships with parents.
- Take notes as you read.
- When you are done reading, answer the questions
- Finally, using the information from the
links, create a “Conflict Tip Sheet” that will
remind you of things you can do to resolve
conflicts that occur at home.
- What is the main way a child’s relationship with their parents change when they become teens?
- What are four of the seven ways to maintain a good relationship with your parents?
- What are the four questions you can ask that will help you cope with and learn from being grounded?
- What is the most important skill to master to become a good communicator?
- What are the four steps to effective listening?
- The main way a child’s relationship with their parents change when they become a
teens is: Teens want to become independent from their parents, while the parents are
still responsible for the teens’ welfare and are trying to use their experience to guide
- The seven ways to maintain a good relationship with your parents are:
- Be respectful when discussing any areas of disagreement.
- Be willing to listen to your parents’ views.
- Stay calm.
- Don’t blame and don't accuse.
- Stick to the issue - don't get side tracked into other areas.
- Use a team approach to working out problems.
- Use problem solving to work things out.
- The four questions you should ask yourself to help cope with and learn from being grounded are:
- Why was I grounded?
- What did I learn from the incident that led to being grounded?
- Was there any time during the incident that I could have done things differently?
- What could I have done differently so that things would have turned out better?
- The most important skill to master to become a good communicator is listening.
Additional Resources for Teachers
- The four steps to effective listening are:
- Listen to the meaning, not just the words.
- Try and imagine yourself in your parents’ position.
- Don't butt in.
- Use the appropriate body language to show that you are listening.
Below are some additional resources for teens on getting along with their families and handling conflict at home. You might want to try role-playing, or having students write their own short skits and act them out. Having other students critique the listening skills of their peers might provide some valuable feedback as well.
- Whole Family:
- Conflict Resolution Game:
- At Your Service:
- Health Gate:
- U.S. Dept of Justice: