How Tyrone Learned to Manage Conflict through Pokémon Cards
Program: Enrichment Camps
One day at lunch, Tyrone traded a Pokémon card.
He was at Unleashing Potential’s summer enrichment camp, and some of his friends had invited him to trade cards. The way he saw it, trading was an aspect that came with playing Pokémon. Once the trading was over, he assumed, everybody would get their cards back.
But then Tyrone asked for one of his cards back, and the other person wouldn’t return it.
At first, Tyrone was upset.
The site manager called him over. “Why do you think I called you over here?” she asked.
The site manager’s goal was to get him to be more conscious of his decisions, particularly the consequences of his decisions.
This is an aspect of conscious discipline, a comprehensive classroom management program and a social-emotional curriculum that Unleashing Potential uses at all of our sites. It is a research-based behavior management curriculum model that empowers staff to use everyday conflicts to teach children life skills and encourage pro-social behaviors.
Regarding the Pokémon cards, the site manager explained: “Just because you want something back doesn’t always mean you get it back. If you decide to trade a Pokémon card, you have to be ok with that decision.”
Tyrone thought deeper about it. He understood that he’d agreed to the trade without realizing that everybody had different perceptions about what that trade meant. He also understood that, being one of the older kids in the program, the younger kids looked up to him, and he was supposed to set the example. So he decided he wasn’t going to get mad about it.
Instead, the next time everybody gathered to trade cards, he made sure everybody was on the same page before any trades could happen. “If you trade a card, there are no takebacks!” he said.
The other kids understood, and repeated back to him, “No takebacks!”
Tyrone set an example for the kids, helping not only to manage conflict for himself, but also setting the tone for how the younger kids could manage conflict as well.
“He really stepped up as a leader,” the site manager said.
*Actual student/name has been changed to protect child’s identity
