The Opposite of COMBAT: A Parents' Guide for Teaching Siblings How to Collaborate and Solve Their Own Conflicts

The Opposite of COMBAT bridges the disciplines of child development and parent education with mediation, bringing parents and caregivers the knowledge and skills necessary to help children of all ages navigate their own conflicts, collaborate to solve their own problems, deepen their sibling relationships, and develop trust and confidence in their decision-making abilities.

Written by mediator and parent educator Susan North, this book helps parents resolve sibling disputes using time-honored conflict resolution techniques. Parents and caregivers will learn a step-by-step protocol, enlivened by real-world conflict scenarios. Included are tips for making mediation work, as well as commonsense tools for improving everyday family communication.

In this book, parents and caregivers will learn:

• To think of conflict in a new way
• To help kids manage strong feelings effectively
• To guide siblings toward peaceful conflict resolution

Empower siblings with the skills to be life-long collaborators, problem-solvers, and independent thinkers.

Susan North has been working with children and their families since completing UC Berkeley's Early Childhood Education program in 1971. Her professional experience includes teaching and administration for Head Start, running parent/toddler programs, and directing full-day preschools. She was a Master Teacher with LA Unified's Parent Education Division. More recently, Susie became trained in mediation and facilitation through the L.A. City Attorney's Office Dispute Resolution Program, Ken Cloke's Center for Dispute Resolution, and Centinela Youth Services. She opened her mediation practice in 2007 and now divides her time doing conflict resolution, parent education, parent coaching, blogging, teaching school-age kids to be peer mediators, and volunteering with Southern California Family Mediation in the Child Dependency Courts.