Parents tend to intervene in fights between children to put an end to them immediately. Separating them, forcing them to apologize or even punishing them until they rectify them are some of the most common strategies when trying to resolve conflicts between children. Instead, teachers in Japan advocate a proven method for addressing physical fights in classrooms based on the principle of non-intervention.
The Mimamoru method, a portmanteau of the Japanese words mi (watch) and mamoru (protect), involves intentionally allowing school-aged children to manage and resolve their differences on their own. This ‘teaching by observing’ strategy is a dynamic that promotes the learning of social behaviors through voluntary exploration and actions. A study by Hiroshima University has thoroughly examined the benefits that the application of this methodology in kindergartens could have.
The researchers created a total of 9 focus groups with 46 early childhood education teachers from Japan and the United States. Educators watched a short video in which Mr. Yoshida, a veteran teacher, uses the Mimamoru method with two children involved in a physical fight. After analyzing the participants’ discussion, the study authors suggest that this pedagogical approach offers children the possibility of training interpersonal skills autonomously, including the ability to feel guilty and solve problems on their own.
This Japanese practice is based on adults’ trust in children’s inherent goodness and their ability to learn through everyday social interactions. Although the Mimamoru approach seems passive, it is more of a challenge to the patience of educators to watch and wait for children to think and act on their own. This does not mean that adults ignore children’s safety, but that they only intervene if children need direct guidance.
Intervention in conflicts involves adult judgment and the division between good and bad, which is not useful for improving relationships between children. However, Japanese educators intervene when the risk of physical damage caused by fighting is greater than the benefit of children learning, something more typical of higher stages in which rough or aggressive games prevail. That is why the authors of the study believe that the Mimamoru method can be extrapolated to nursery schools around the world.
Among the main characteristics of Mimamoru, the educators participating in the study highlighted the minimal and temporary intervention to reduce the immediate risk of physical harm. Then, non-intervention, which would be observing from a distance to indirectly encourage the children to resolve the conflict. Finally, non-presence, once it is concluded that children can resolve their differences without adult intervention.
