few weeks ago, my fouryear-old sister and seven-year-old brother were engaged in a brawl over my brother`s toy house. In hopes of resolving their conflict, I offered to build my little sister a Lego house.

As I am considered something of an expert in building Lego structures, my sister agreed to let go of the toy house. So I set out to build her a little mansion. The little Lego mansion turned out to be extremely beautiful. I was so pleased with my creation that I did not want to part with it, even though I had promised it to my baby sister.

Sensing my reluctance, my sister threw a tantrum, demanding the mansion as I had earlier promised.

Suddenly she tried to snatch it, which caused me to drop the structure on the marble floor. Several hundred Lego pieces of various sizes and colours scattered in every direction.

Seeing my effort ruined into tiny pieces in front of my eyes, a rush of anger sped past my heart into my head. I shouted in frustration at her.

Meanwhile, she too was sobbing at the broken structure. In hopes of resolving a conflict, I had created a bigger one.

Another day, my dad and I wentto practice tennis on our local tennis court. My dad instructed me toperform a split-step between every shot. I was trying to follow his instructions. Sadly, my dad was unable to see my effort. So when my dad once again harshly reminded me to do a split step, I got grumpy and blurted a defiant `No! Shocked at my denial, my dad angrily dismissed me from the court.

I stormed away on my bicycle from the tennis court to my house. Later in the day, my dad and I kept exchanging looks and did not speak to one another for a while. Around evening, my dad and I struck up a friendly conversation. We both had forgotten the earlier heated exchange. The conflict did not linger any longer.Conflicts are inevitable in daily life, whether you are a kid like me and my siblings, or an adult like my dad. What is important is that you learn from these experienc-es and apply that learning in the future.In the first toy-house conflict, after cooling down, I realised that Lego structures can be rebuilt. No matter how much hard work went into it, it was something that could be done again. So I rebuilt the house and gave it to my sister like I had promised earlier, although she was not keen on playing with it any longer.

I also realised that many conflicts can be avoided or resolved when we simply deliver on our promise.

This taught me that we should make promises thoughtfully and fulfil them without reluctance and without giving in to momentary feelings to break a promise. Even though broken promises can be mended when we realise our mistake, it does not hold the same value. When our siblings, parents and friends, or anyone else for that matter, makes a promise, we should make it clear to them that they will have to deliver on their promise and will be held accountable for it.

The second conflict taught me that minor conflicts resolve themselves, as it happened between my dad and me. But it`s up to you how you resolve the conflict. If you do it nicely, the conflict will disappear like a wisp of smoke. But if you do it in a rush and with a heart full of anger, it will lead to an irresolvable conflict.

I have also noticed that people forget conflicts after a day or so.

One moment they are sulking and grumpy with the other person, and the next day they are talking like old friends. The point is that people with a strong relationship can forgive each other easily if a small conflict arises between them.

In the end, we realised that disagreements or conflicts are inevitable, but it`s our approach to resolving them that defines the outcome.•