Pre-teen Corner

Hi! My name is Alex, and I am 11 years old, and in grade five. At my school I am a Peer Mediator.

A Peer Mediator is a person who helps their peers solve a conflict. A peer is someone who is around your own age, and a conflict is when a few people get in a fight. For instance, just say a girl and a boy were playing on the school ground. The girl and her friends started to tease the boy and he told one of the duties. The duty would ask two Peer Mediators to help them solve their problem. I enjoy being a Peer Mediator because I like to help people solve their problems.

Sometimes two people say two different stories which can make it very hard to try and solve the problem. Before we start asking any questions to the people who had the conflict, they have to agree to four ground rules which are:

  1. Listen without interrupting
  2. No name calling or put-downs
  3. Try hard to solve the problem
  4. Tell the truth
If I remind the people who had the conflict about the "Tell the Truth" rule sometimes the stories are changed a little bit so that they are more alike.

At My school we wear an orange band around our leg or arm to show that we are Peer Mediators. You are not allowed to mediate your friends, just in case, because sometimes people may take sides.

I hope you enjoyed reading about "Peer Mediators." If you have any ideas about things for me to write about, or any questions please e-mail them to af088@ccn·cs·dal·ca and they will be given to me.

Alex