Daily Tips for Families

Today's Tip for Families

03-01-2023

Help Your Child Recover From a Poor Choice

Children make choices every day. Sometimes, they make bad ones. They choose to watch TV after school. Then they have to stay up late to finish a math assignment. Or they choose to tell a lie, and they have to live with the consequences later.

Let’s say your child has made a poor choice. Your elementary schooler knows that your family rule is no going to friends' houses before schoolwork is done. But hanging out with friends sounded like more fun than math. So your child said there was no assigned math to do.

Help your student take responsibility for decisions and actions. Teach your child these steps to recover from a poor choice:

Admit it. Being honest about a bad choice is the first step toward fixing what’s wrong. (“I really did have a worksheet to do for math tonight.”)
Accept the consequences. (“I know I’m going to have to get my schoolwork done. And I accept that I probably won’t be able to visit friends after school for the rest of the week.”)
Take action to make up for the poor choice. How can your child turn this bad choice into something positive? (“Since I won’t be visiting friends this week, I will use put all my efforts into mastering these math skills.”)
Learn from the experience. (“Next time I will do my schoolwork first!”)

Brought to you by:

West Point Consolidated School District