Article Link: http://exchangepress.com/article/toddlers-peer-conflicts-teaching-and-learning-social-emotional-skills/5023984/
Toddlers’ peer conflicts are a natural part of daily life in group care settings such as early childhood education and care services. Conflicts can occur for numerous reasons, including toddlers’ curiosity, their interest to investigate what other toddlers are doing, disagreements about possession of toys or space, and disputes about play ideas (Chen et al., 2001; Licht, Simoni, & Perrig-Chiello, 2008). Although young children’s conflicts are brief, they can be eventful and dynamic. Toddlers may experience and express a variety of emotions and behaviours during a peer conflict (Chen et al., 2001). These events can be challenging because toddlers are only just beginning to learn the social-emotional skills they need to be able to get along with others, including the skills to be able to understand the perspectives of others, to communicate verbally, and to understand and regulate their emotions (Shonkoff & Phillips, 2000).
Supporting the development of toddlers’ social-emotional skills is important because social-emotional skills are needed to be able to cooperate and get along with others, to make friends and to enjoy learning (Denham et al., 2003). Young children with strong social-emotional skills are more likely to be healthier, feel content, and have greater educational and work-place ...