Teaching My Kids How to Solve Problems Works
My wife and I have three children ages 14, 10, and 9.
We had taken some parenting classes from Cynthia and tried applying her strategies on our own, without her guidance.
It wasn’t too effective because we couldn’t see what we needed to change. Then we decided to start one-on-one sessions with Cynthia.
What a huge difference this has made.
On a recent walk around the neighborhood, our 9 and 10 year old’s started fighting over who got to use the scooter with the “better” handle.
My normal response would have been to jump into the middle and try to arbitrate or just make a ruling one way or the other.
I even started down this path instinctively when it happened, and became very frustrated when the kids weren’t responding to my ideas (despite that being the regular response).
Just as I was about to call off the whole walk and head home, I decided to give Cynthia’s approach a try.
I explained that this was a problem that I was going to help them solve THEMSELVES.
Then I made sure that each individual child got a chance to speak uninterrupted DIRECTLY to the other ones (not using me as the judge).
Once they each heard the other out, they jointly came up with a fair solution that was 10 times better than anything I could have imposed on them.
Cynthia has taught us valuable problem solving skills. We now see ourselves as more of a coach to help our kids solve problems, than the judge, jury and jailer roles we often played in the past.
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About Cynthia Klein
Cynthia Klein’s mission is to contribute to World Peace and building healthy family relationships is the place to begin. As a parenting expert for over 30 years, parents have learned from Cynthia how to communicate more effectively as an ally rather than an adversary. Her unique Family Harmony System teaches parents of 5 and older how to have open dialogue, solve problems together, support one another, and build mutual respect. Cynthia is the author of Ally Parenting and the video-based self-paced program Win, Win, Win, Parenting. She has presented over 700 talks and coached hundreds of parents privately towards greater family connection and harmony. To learn more about her services of coaching and speaking, contact Cynthia Klein at , visit her website at bridges2understanding.com.
