Connection circles are a great way to communicate as a family and build trust, empathy, and respect for one another. The great thing about connection circles is that they are easy and can be done just about anywhere. Think about having connection circles while preparing or during meals, on the car ride to or from school, during bedtime or morning rituals, or when looking ahead to something stressful.

To run a circle think about a topic you'd enjoy talking about or let the kids pick one! Circles are also a great way to discuss problems within the family because everyone's voice is heard.

Examples of family circle prompts:

What was something new you learned today?

Name a rose (something good) and a thorn (something not so good) about your day.

What do you love about our family?

What is a family tradition you'd like to start?

What are some family rules we need to set?

Having a restorative conversation with your child helps them see their behavior from another perspective, take responsibility for their actions, understand how their actions affect others, and figure out a way to repair harm. Watch the quick video above to see how you can have a restorative conversation with your kids.

Questions to ask your child:

1. What happened?-This helps your child see the situation from all points of view.

2. Who was impacted? or How did this affect the others? -This helps your child see how their actions affect others.

3. ***What can you take responsibility for? -This helps to hold your child accountable for their actions.

4. What can we do to make things right? -This helps you to come up with a plan together for how they will fix or repair the harm.

***It helps if the adult also takes responsibility for their part in the situation. Be clear about what mistakes you made as well. Here are some examples for how you can model this:

"I shouldn't have yelled at you. It's hard sometimes when I'm feeling stressed, but I'll try to calm myself down before I say something."

"I'm sorry my expectations weren't clear enough. I'll try to explain myself better next time."

"I really lost my patience there. Maybe I should have walked away for a minute."

When family members have taken responsibility for their actions, they should have a say in determining how the harm caused will be repaired. While talking through it together keep the following in mind:

-Repair should help the family member feel reconnected to the family.

-The repair should be directly connected to the harm that was caused.

-Repair should lead to learning and skill building.

Some Ideas for Repairing the Harm:

A new responsibility, such as washing the dishes or taking out the trash.

Learn how to use appliances or tools safely/correctly.

Parent and child who had the conflict spend one on one time together.

Spend some time playing with a sibling, with a game of their choice.

Research the effects of the harmful behavior that broke trust (such as drug use, name-calling, or overuse of social media) and teach the rest of the family what was learned.

Cook a meal or make lunches for the family.

Use allowance or do chores around the house to earn money to replace something that was broken.

Create a schedule for yourself (schoolwork, chores, play, and media time) and follow it to prevent stressful situations.

Leave kind notes for family members around the house.

Create a list of self-calming techniques to use when you are upset.