5 Tips for Building Conflict Resolution Skills with Pre-Teens

The pre-teen years are a time of rapid change for the youth in our lives. Young people are busy working out who they are and where they fit into the world, in conjunction with a lot of physical, emotional, cognitive and social changes. During this time, these changes can happen quickly and seemingly unpredictable, which can be tough […]

4 Ways to Respond to Conflict as a Bystander

Monkeys by the sea

Between the ages of 5 and 18, I rode the bus to school nearly every morning. Each day was different; some days were calm, and others were boisterous, but most days included some kind of conflict. I did my fair share of instigating those conflicts, but I also had the opportunity to observe plenty of […]

How to Come Back to Conflict Conversations: Part 2

Family sitting on the grass

In conflict situations, my natural tendency is to avoid the conflict. For me, this would mean avoiding all conversation and interaction with the other party. If I did need to see them, I might  act as though the conflict never happened. If you watched me in these situations, you might say, “Wow! She’s a natural.” […]

How to Come Back to Conflict Conversations: Part 1

When I was in grade four, I was in the same class as my best friend. We at lunch together, played soccer together, and we liked the same things; clothes, music, movies. We spent most of our time at school as a duo.  One day, about halfway through the school year, we began to fight. […]

This Sentence Will Help You Start Tough Conversations

My first year as a facilitator with The Ripple Effect Education has been a wonderful experience. This year I have not only learned from the lessons and students I have taught, but I have been able to better understand what peace and conflict actually means and how I can apply it in my own life.  […]

Five Children’s Books That Inspire Peace

We all have a favourite book from childhood. Mine was the Chronicle of Narnia series. My father would read me a chapter before bed every night, and we would curl up on the couch together until I couldn’t fight my eyelids from closing. Children’s books have a particular way of bringing us back into a […]

Why Peace Education is Important for Youth

In a world where acts of violence fill our newsfeeds and there is a prevalence of pain and hurt around us, peace takes root in the form of education. Peace education is important for people of all ages, but when is the most effective time to engage in peace education by learning about transformative conflict […]

Three Tips for Teaching Conflict Resolution to Kids

They say if you give someone a fish you will feed them for a day, but if you teach them to fish they will feed themselves their whole life. Today I want to talk about teaching our youth easy and practical conflict resolution strategies that they can use their whole lives too. We both play […]

The Phrase That Will Revolutionize How You Handle Conflict

Have you ever experienced someone putting words into your mouth? Or assuming you did something just to annoy them? How about the other way around? Do you ever assume things about others? When we are in the middle of conflict we are often instinctively defensive of ourselves and sometimes that natural instinct can lead to […]

My Wall of Peace

This post was originally written in June 2018. I learned about Sister Norma Pimentel today.  She is a recipient of the 2018 Laetare Medal; a prestigious award she received in recognition of her efforts to advocate for migrants and refugees she has encountered in her work near the United States-Mexico border.  She was in the […]