Week 27: STOP, THINK, GO!
Adult: “What were you thinking?”
Child: “I don’t know.”
If you find yourself having this conversation with your child, after they have just made an impulsive choice, you are not alone. Most kids have moments when they say or do something before thinking through the consequences of their actions. When faced with a problem, we want our children to slow down enough to think through solutions, in order to make wise decisions. Young children are just developing this skill, but we can teach them how to do this in a strategic way.
This week the Puppet Pals learn a strategy called “The Stoplight” to help them solve a variety of problems:
The Red Light reminds them to stop and calm down first.
The Yellow light teaches them to state the problem, label their feelings, think of their end goal and brainstorm some possible solutions.
Then they are ready to move to the Green Light, picking the best solution and giving it a try.
When children watch this method used throughout the week, they can use the Stoplight poster when faced with their own problems.
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