We used a curriculum called Kelso's Choice at this camp and I watched it do wonders for the kids.
Kelso is a frog who teaches kids some fundamental basics about conflict management. He starts out by helping kids learn what a small problem is vs a big problem. A big problem is any situation in which someone is in danger, a small problem is something you can work through on your own. They give examples of big problems and small problems and then they give the kids tools for the small problems.
This is Kelso's wheel of choices. Kelso teaches the kids that when there is a small problem they can use this wheel as a guide for working through it.
Kelso encourages the kids to try at least to choices on the wheel before talking to an adult.
We had a discussion about this at Enumclaw Adventures since we were struggling with small problems and the kids have been practicing these skills since then.
The kids are learning how to resolve conflict by making these choices, they are taking responsibility for their actions building very healthy problem solving skills!
I am so proud of them!
