Daily Tips for Families

Today's Tip for Families

07-10-2025

Teach Your Teenager Six Steps to Good Decisions

Whether they are deciding how to approach a teacher about an issue or handle a scheduling conflict, teens need to learn problem-solving skills. Teach your teen this six-step method for solving problems and making decisions:

Identify the issue. Ask your teen to state the problem. If there is a conflict, have your student state all the opposing views.
Think of all possible solutions. It is important for teens to realize that there may be more than one or two solutions. At this stage, your teen shouldn’t try to judge whether the ideas are good or bad, but just brainstorm as many options as possible.
List the pros and cons. Once your teen has identified possible solutions, it’s time to weigh them. Get your teen to talk about what will happen and what might go wrong if an option is chosen. If teens anticipate problems, they are better able to deal with them. In this process, teens sometimes think of other solutions that are better than any they’ve listed.
Make the decision. Now your teen has to choose a solution to try. Sometimes, teens can choose two solutions and see which works better.
Act on the decision.
Evaluate. How did your teen’s solution work? Discuss what changes your teen could make so it will work better next time.

Go through this process with your teen for one problem. Then, ask your student to try another independently. You might want to write these six steps on a piece of paper and post them in a prominent place.

Brought to you by:

Bonita Springs Middle School

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