Clashes are very frequent for the under 5′s and adults often find children’s disputes hard to cope with. But sometimes moving in and breaking up conflicts denies children the essential experience of learning how to deal with these situations themselves. By standing back and watching, this documentary film encourages practitioners to reflect on what social skills children need to have to be able to deal with conflicts effectively. It is also a great platform to generate discussion and thought about whether conflict can actually aid social development.
This delightful piece is from the original Siren archives, filmed in a street in Gateshead, in the mid 1980’s. Not only does this study provide an excellent opportunity to analyse how children, with a varying range of social skills, behave – it also offers an opportunity to generate discussion about how behaviour and attitudes of both children and parents may or may not have changed over recent decades. A must see for training with a difference!
