Teaching Children How to Problem Solve: Stop. Think. Act. Review.

As most of you know by now, I have two small children. Two little boys to be precise. When they were babies (and even before so) my husband and I would talk about how we wanted to raise our boys. We discussed what qualities and values we wanted to instill in them. We want to teach them to be kind, brave, and creative to name a few.

I am learning as I teach them. I’m realizing as I teach them kindness, I have to teach them how to put words to their thoughts and feelings. And it’s tough. Think about how you would describe what it means to be ‘angry’ or ‘upset’? Something that seems so simple, is actually pretty difficult.

Another thing I want to teach my boys is to be “problem solvers”. Again, much easier said than done. It is so much easier to solve my boys’ problems myself, rather than being patient to walk them through the problem solving process. As an adult, problem solving has become almost second nature. Until I stopped to think about it, I didn’t even realize the process I go through each time I solve a problem. In order to teach my boys how to do this, I had to consider, what do I do to solve a problem. That’s when I stumbled upon the “Star Method”.

Stop. Think. Act. Review. This is a great way to explain how to be a problem solver.

When my 4 year old is trying to figure out how to put together a puzzle, rather than showing him which pieces go where, I can slow him down, ask him questions to get him to think about placing the puzzle pieces, allow him to act and then review whether it worked or not.

Teaching him to be a problem solver means that I will have to watch and let him fail.

A lot.

But that is how we learn. It means allowing him to try things that I know won’t work. Then, after he’s discovered it doesn’t work, help him review and learn why it didn’t work. In theory this all makes sense. But I realize this is going to be tough in practice.

It will tough to be patient and slow down to let him discover things himself. It will be tough to allow him to fail when the sakes are higher than simply not putting a puzzle piece in the correct spot.

But hopefully with each try he will refine his ability to problem solve and learn a little more.

My question to you is, are you using the STAR Method in your decision making and problem solving process? It’s so easy to forget or leave out the “review” step. As adults we are making big decisions where the impact on our loved ones are high. Naming life insurance beneficiaries is one of those big decisions. While seems like it is easy, here are the 6 Questions to Consider When Naming Life Insurance Beneficiaries.