The 2023 edition of Multicultural Principles for Early Childhood Leaders builds on growing research about how race, ethnicity, ability, gender, and socio-economic status influence young children’s learning.
When conflict is mismanaged, it can cause great harm to a relationship, but when handled in a respectful, positive way, conflict provides an opportunity to
strengthen the bond between two people.
Conflict wreaks havoc on our brains. We are groomed by evolution to protect ourselves whenever we sense a threat. In our modern context, we don’t fight like a badger with a coyote, or run away like a rabbit from a fox. But our basic impulse to protect ourselves is automatic and unconscious.
Many conflict situations could be resolved more successfully than we might think at first glance. One big problem is that conflict participants often lose control of themselves and retreat into self-reinforcing, and self-defeating, patterns of attack and counterattack.
When an angry reader began cursing her out over the phone, newspaper columnist Ronnie Polaneczky had an epiphany: Magic happens when we set aside our judgments and just listen, even when we are certain that person is wrong and we are right.
This talk was given at a local TEDx event, produced independently of the TED Conferences. In this thought provoking talk, Kathleen Macferran explores the power of listening to open doors and potentially to transform people.
