Teaching Problem Solving: Responsibility and Independence

Problem solving opportunities can be found everywhere.  You don’t have to wait for major problems to occur in order to effectively teach your child.  In essence, all problem-skills work on the same principle, regardless of problem size.  Once you feel confident your child has mastered the previous steps, it is time to use those skills in real-life situations.  By doing this, you give your child responsibility for solving her own problems and you foster a sense of independence that will give him confidence in his ability. Let’s look at some situations you can use as learning opportunities.

At Home

*Allow your child to make his own decisions about what clothing he will wear.  Begin by letting him choose from 2 or 3 appropriate outfits.  Show him how to find out the weather and decide what clothing is most appropriate.  Move forward to letting him choose on his own

*When your child’s room needs cleaned, allow him to decide the method to use, what areas to clean first, what items should be kept and what is trash.  Guide him the first couple of types and help him learn what criteria you expect to be used, but allow him to determine how to achieve that goal.

*As he approaches school age, giving your child an allowance and determining how much should be saved, donated and spent is an excellent way to help him learn how to best spend money, as well as learn to wait for things he wants.  Once a year, allow him to decide what charity to donate his saved donation money to. Allow him to decide how to spend the spending portion of his allowance.  He will learn that if he buys candy, he’ll have to forgo the toy he wants.  He’ll learn to assess each spending situation to determine how to get the things he wants.

At the Park

*Don’t quickly jump to interfere in squabbles over who gets to play with what or who goes first.  If the situation escalates, step in to guide those involved in making a decision, but don’t tell them how it should be.  They will learn from each other and will surprise you often on how well they can solve the issue.

Other Situations

*Your son tells you he’s bored.  This is a perfect situation to guide him through solving the problem and finding something to do.  At first, you may have to help with suggestions, but gradually reduce the number and allow him to think of things.  Eventually, it can get to the point where your only suggestions is “Sit there and twiddle your thumbs.” and it is a sure bet he won’t stay bored for long.  Remember your parent’s suggestions always included work- weed, clean, put things away?  That tactic speeds this bit of problem solving right along 🙂

*Choices are necessary in order to solve problems.  Some things, like homework, need to be done but allow your child to decide whether to do it right after school, or to miss computer or TV time to complete it later. Brushing teeth is a must, but brushing right after the last meal of the day or just before bedtime is a choice.

Natural Consequences

Life itself is often the best teacher.  Every decision you make has a consequence so allow your child to experience these natural consequences.  It is better to do this when he is young and you can keep him from making decisions that may harm him.  He wants to build a snowman and yet doesn’t want to wear gloves.  His hands get cold.  He has a problem.  Ask him what he could have done to prevent that problem–wear his gloves.  Often problems result from choices and it is necessary to get that across to your child.

Looking Ahead

Next time, as we near the end of this series on problem solving, we will discuss how teaching these skills to your child is one of the best gifts you as a parent can give your child.

Thomas Learning Centers provides NECPA accredited preschool and childcare at the most affordable rates in the Denver Metro Area.  Check us out at http://www.thomaslearningcenters.com , click on the offers below, drop in for a visit to get to know more about us. We’d love to meet you!

Call  877-938-1442 for general info

Lakewood 303-237-0917 or Westminster 303-427-8831

Teaching Children Critical Thinking Skills: Active Problem Solving

Active problem solving requires the use of critical thinking skills.  You have to think up various solutions to an existing problem and then put those solutions into use. This is the kind of problem-solving skill your child will use most as she grows.  Today, we will focus on three active strategies: brainstorming, what if and step-by-step.

Brainstorming

Brainstorming is basically sitting down and thinking about many possible solutions to a problem.  When you have exhausted ideas, you need to evaluate each idea and decide if it is practical.  Finally, you decide on the best solution and put it to the test.  Let’s get ready for a trip to the zoo.

Your daughter can’t make up her mind what to wear for her day to the zoo.  She wants to look nice, but it is a bit chilly outside and she will be doing a lot of walking.  You can work with pencil and paper, but this can also work by standing at the closet.  The first criteria for today’s outing is looking pretty.  As you go through the closet, comment on the various item and pick a combination of both dresses and pants and shirts.  You will want to keep the number of items small for younger children, maybe one of each item, but it can increase in size as they get older and better at the decision-making.  The weather is chilly, and a dress might cause her legs to get cold, so this eliminates the dresses you chose. Comment that we now have an outfit that meets the criteria of both pretty and warm.  Next, choose between sandals and sneakers, which is better for a lot of walking?

What If

You have decided to get a pet but can’t decide what kind would be best for your family.   Ask out loud, “What if we get a dog?” then proceed to list things like somebody will have to walk him, he will need to be trained, he will require a lot of attention. “What if we get a cat?”  She will need her litter box cleaned often, she needs to be taught what not to scratch, she will need to be brushed and played with.  “What if we get a fish?”  The fish bowl will need cleaned, we have to remember to feed it because it can’t remind us, it can’t be petted or played with.  For each item you mention, make a comment about who can do that task or why that might not be a good thing.   Your child will learn that sometimes choices have both good and bad elements and it is important to determine which has the most positive.

Step-by-step

This method takes more time and planning.  You want a box that is too high to reach.  Comment on the problem and then ask yourself, out loud, what you need to do, which is find a way to make yourself taller.  Now, talk through the steps:

“I need to find something safe to stand on. Here is a stool.”

“I need to put the stool close to the closet so when I reach up, the shelf is near.”

“Now I can reach the box.  I have to be careful when I step off the stool.”

“I’ll set the box here until I put the stool away and close the closet door.”

Looking Ahead

Next time, we will discuss how to find opportunities for your child to practice problem-solving.  The more she practices, the easier it will become and the more successful she will be when actual problems arise.

Thomas Learning Centers provides NECPA accredited preschool and childcare at the most affordable rates in the Denver Metro Area.  Check us out at http://www.thomaslearningcenters.com , click on the offers below, drop in for a visit to get to know more about us. We’d love to meet you!

Call  877-938-1442 for general info

Lakewood 303-237-0917 or Westminster 303-427-8831

Teaching Problem Solving to Young Children: Passive Problem Solving

Today I’d like to talk about modeling passive problem solving skills for your young child. Passive problem-solving is the easiest place for a beginner to start as critical thinking skills don’t have to be fully developed.  While there are several passive methods to problem-solving, we will focus on three today: asking for help, waiting and taking a break.

Asking for Assistance 

Doing everything yourself would be wonderful, but we all learn at one point in life that we can’t always do what we set out to achieve.  It may be necessary to ask someone else to help us or even to do whatever needs done. Let’s explore a situation where this might be necessary.

You start to do your weekly laundry and the washing machine won’t stop filling and floods the laundry room.  You have two problems here – the flooded floor and the broken washer.  Instead of silently clenching your teeth as you clean up the mess, start talking to yourself where your child can hear.

“It looks like I have a big problem.  I can fix the mess easily with this mop but I don’t know how to fix washing machines.I will have to ask someone to help me with it.”

When you call for repair, talk about what you are doing as you are calling someone to help.  Once the washer has been repaired, express how happy you are that there was someone who knew how to solve your problem when you asked.

Waiting

When something goes wrong we have no control over and nobody else can change the problem, it can be extremely frustrating.  At first, waiting may seem like giving up, but it is actually a simple delay.  Today, we have a rained-out trip to the park.

You have packed a picnic, some bread for the ducks and everyone is ready to walk out the door.  A clap of thunder shakes the house and a previously sunny day becomes darkened with rain clouds and the rain is coming down hard.  Everyone is very disappointed because they were looking forward to a morning of fun. Start by noting the problem.

“This is a disappointing problem.  We can’t go to the park in the rain and we can’t make the rain stop. I guess we will have to wait until the rain stops.”

You can go on to mention that it might be sunny in the afternoon or tomorrow and then talk about how the outing will be just as much fun even if you have to wait until the rain stops.

Take a break

Sometimes we try so hard to accomplish something and keep failing.  The more frustrated we get, the harder it becomes.  Yet, if we take a break and come back to it later, everything seems to easily fall into place. Let’s use creating your monthly budget as an example.

In the middle of working on your budget, you can set your pen down and comment, where your child can hear, that something is wrong and the numbers are not coming out correctly. Go on to say something like:

“I’m having a problem finding the error.  Maybe if I take a break and come back to it when I’m not so frustrated I can do better.”

Then get up and do something else and go back to it later.  When you do finish, comment on how glad you were that you took the break because it helped you see the problem with fresh eyes.

Looking Ahead

Next time, we will explore ways to model active problem-solving skills.  In the meantime, practice modeling these passive ones.

Thomas Learning Centers provides NECPA accredited preschool and childcare at the most affordable rates in the Denver Metro Area.  Check us out at http://www.thomaslearningcenters.com , click on the offers below, drop in for a visit to get to know more about us. We’d love to meet you!

Call  877-938-1442 for general info

Lakewood 303-237-0917 or Westminster 303-427-8831