Good Decisions

Children often have their own idea regarding preferred behavior for a given situation, especially little boys. When their desires conflict with their best interests, they need a gentle prod toward the best course of action. Children want the satisfaction of doing things correctly, though they wish to determine what constitutes correctness by their own perception.

I have found that the child's desire to make good decisions can be used to encourage them to do the right thing. I have a student (call him Bob) who wiped his nose with his hand, as little boys often do. I told him that he needed to wipe his hands and face with a tissue. He said this wasn't necessary. I handed him a tissue and said "Bob, I'm counting on you to make a good decision". He repeated that he didn't need a tissue. I replied "Now Bob, I've given you a tissue to wipe your hands and nose. If you don't use them you will not be making a good decision. Now, I'm closing my eyes and I want you to make a good decision." This removed the contest of wills by letting his compliance with my wishes be hidden from me. :-) Peeking just a little, I saw Bob use the tissue as instructed, and said "Bob, I hear a good decision being made!" Bob was very pleased with himself for making a good decision.

Sometimes we can take a situation where there is only one acceptable course of action and turn it into a decision-making process in order to help the child reconsider their position. Some gentle guidance in the decision-making process can have very good results, especially when numerous opportunities result in lots of praise for good decisions.

I hope that you have found my idea interesting. I am always looking for additional methods, information and resources that are useful in education, so if you know of any that I don't have links to, let me know about them. If you have a helpful tip that you would like to share, but don't have a web site, send it to me, and if I publish it, I'll include your e-mail address with it so you can get feedback. Have a great day!

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