Roommate Conflict Suggestions for Parents
Jun 2nd, 2009 by admin
1. Provide suggestions, but not solutions. Telling your children what to do or even solvling the problem yourself, will bring more bad than good. Resolution of conflict is a skill, which should be practiced: the more you will do for your children, the longer this will take them to grow confident. In its place, you should assist them in becoming critical thinkers by brainstorming solutions, picturing scenarios, and thinking about possible consequences and outcomes.
2. Get ready for conflict. Those students who consider that things will be ok get risked for a loop as they are not. Conflict is unavoidable as all people are different. Even the best friends might have some differences in living habits, needs, communication skills, and stress levels. It is necessary for you to teach your children that any conflict does not need to be negative; this is a chance to be inventive and get to know how to solve a problem.
3. Share your expectations. Roommate contracts are ordinary today and most universities and colleges need them as a means to get students talking concering their expectations. Even though your children’s schools do not own formal contracts, you should encourage them to discuss such things as study and sleep habits, bills, cleaning, sharing items, and the apt times for having visitors. Similar to pre-marital discussion, the more that is dibated upfront, the better relationships are.
4. Support face-to-face discussions. Today kids prefer communicating through IM, e-mail, and text messaging than conversing face-to-face. Without the advantage of facial expressions, voice, body language, messages may be misunderstood.