Today they were fighting over a glove. They both wanted it. Teo was in the potty and Fin took it because Teo wasn’t using it. The book “How to talk so your kids will listen” has a section where they suggest writing a list of solutions to solve a problem, given by the kid. In this case, two kids. Here is the list they came up with:
Teo:
- when Teo is done with potty, Fin gives glove and Santa (a little figure) to Teo- rejected by Fin
Me:
- forget about the glove and let’s all go to make a puzzle together- rejected by Fin and Teo
Fin:
- Teo plays with Santa- Rejected by Teo
- Teo plays with cars and bikes- rejected by Teo
- When Teo is done with the potty, Fin will use it, and after that, Teo can have the glove- rejected by Teo
- Teo dances on the table and tries to pull out the glove from Fin’s hand- APPROVED by Fin and Teo
Definitively a solution I would not have come up all by myself… they ended up just talking how much fun would be doing this, how could they do it, all excited… and in the end they just played with something else together. How nice.
We need problem solvers like Teo and Fin solving the problems of our world! Dancing combined with challenging fun is a much better solution than war!
Were the suggestions really that specific? I love their acute and discriminating little minds! And love that the most off the wall one is the one they chose! xx
yes, this is how they said it. I was writing it all in a notepad. Very serious stuff.
Haha — dance therapy!