Brainstorming can help if your child is having a hard time thinking of possible solutions. You can have a lot of fun with this to help your child get started. Suggest wild crazy things that he never thought you could think of, like "Forget it ever happened and go Disneyland."

• All ideas should be written down.
• Do not censor, judge or rule out any ideas no matter how unrealistic.
• Continue encouraging your child as ideas come out.
• Do not attempt to make a decision at this time.

How to avoid problems in this step:

• Do not suggest the correct answer during this process, or point it out when he suggests it. The whole purpose of this step is that your child is thinking up ideas.
• When your child suggests inappropriate alternatives such as moving away or blaming another child don't blow up and scold him. Write these down without comment. You can help your child see the problems with these alternatives in the next step.

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Test Your Knowledge!

Choose a response to each situation below. Think of how you can help encourage talking about the problem and brainstorming alternatives. Click the letter next to the response you choose.

1.	Situation: Gabriel says, "I ain't doing nothing. He doesn't know I did it and anyway I hear he's real mean." You say:

A	"If you don't tell him, I'm going to tell him myself."

B	"It sounds like you think he's going to be really mad. Let's talk about that."

C	"You wouldn't like it if someone broke something of yours and didn't tell you. That's not being fair. I think you need to tell him."

2.	Situation: Gabriel says, "I dunno, I can't think of anything." You say:

A	"You usually talk all the time. Why can't you think of anything to say now?"

B	"Pretend that you're in school and this is a test and you have to think of something or you will fail."

C	"OK, I'll start. How about you tell Mr. Washington it's the ball from the Ken Griffey ad, or offer that he could break your bedroom window, or maybe we could just join the witness protection program and change our names. Now you try one."

 

3.	Situation: Gabriel says, "I could sneak over at night and break some more windows, then he wouldn't think I did the first one." You:

A	Write it down on the list.

B	Say; "That is the stupidest, meanest idea I've ever heard and besides it doesn't make any sense."

C	Grab his arm, slap him, and say "How could you think like that!"

4.	Situation: Gabriel has suggested three alternatives, none of which are realistic. You:

A	Say; "OK, now I can tell what you should do."

B	Say; "Well that's a good try but you haven't come up with the right answer, so I'll write my idea down here too."

C	Encourage him to think of some more alternatives.

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