Waging Peace in Our Schools by Linda Lantieri. Age: adult. Library section 8 E: Life skills, Human relationships/child advocacy. This wonderful book for both teachers and parents is about “emotional intelligence” and how to foster it in classrooms and families. It discusses social competencies: self-awareness (know what you are feeling), how to handle emotions, self-motivation (focusing on goals without giving up), empathy, and social skills (positive self-worth, communicating effectively, behaving in healthy ways, respecting diversity).
The authors created the Resolving Conflict Creatively Program (RCCP), used in schools to teach youngsters to empathize, mediate, negotiate, and create peace. The authors address everything from minor schoolyard conflicts to violent outbursts, and offer teachers and parents proven strategies for enhancing children’s emotional, social and conflict resolution skills.
Teachers and parents, this will give you good ideas for how to create respect and support, and cut down significantly on arguments in school and home. You can use these strategies immediately. It’s just so uplifting when kids learn to mediate arguments and fights. They feel the world is not such a scary place if they possess a variety of strategies to deflate anger before it builds to violence. ( )