Problem Solving: A Practical Handbook

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• When something at home breaks, run the free checks first, then swap in parts you know work, one at a time, before buying anything new.
• Give a stuck child five words to work through, know, need, show, shrink and check, and point to the next word instead of the next step.
• End repeated sharing quarrels with a fair procedure children can see, such as one cuts and the other chooses, a timer or a rota.
• Plan big family days backwards from the date, and give every child at least one task with a name and a deadline beside it.
• Before trips and big days, list what could go wrong with the children, write one plan B for each, and practise the most important aloud.

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1. Free checks and swap tests for broken things

   When something at home stops working, a two-stage procedure finds many faults without buying anything. Stage one is the free checks: is it switched on, charged, connected, empty or full?

2. Stuck on homework: know, need, show, shrink, check

   When a child is stuck on a school problem, a short routine helps more than an explanation. Know: what does the question already tell you?

3. Fair procedures for sharing quarrels

   Many family problems are sharing problems: one television, one window seat, one last slice. Arguing about fairness rarely ends them, but a fair procedure often does, because children accept a process they can see.

4. Planning a family project backwards

   Big family jobs, such as a move, a grandparent's birthday lunch or the first week at a new school, go wrong when they are planned forwards from today and run out of time. Plan them backwards instead.

5. Plan B lists for trips and big days

   Before a trip, a wedding or an exam week, spend ten minutes on a plan B list. Ask each person, children included, what could go wrong.

6. Challenge cards: practising through play

   Problem-solving skill grows well on problems that are safe to get wrong, and play supplies plenty of them. Once a week, draw a challenge card from a jar.