Hi everyone! It’s Mandy (mother of 2 – an almost 5-year-old boy and a 1-year-old girl). I am blogging on Be the Difference, recapping some valuable tips from Empowering Kids With Character – The Show!
Maria shared, on July 31, a great personal story on not only problem-solving (August’s theme!), but also on a stranger’s kindness! You can watch the full video here.
Maria and her children were on a biking trail, with her 2 older daughters riding their own bikes and her son was on a wee-ride behind her bike. Her middle daughter’s bike tire blew when they were about 4 miles from their car. Now, as a parent, you can understand how this could have been a frustrating situation. How do you handle this?
Maria shared that this is the perfect opportunity to TALK OUT LOUD, calmly (big key word there, ha!) your problem and the possible solutions with your children. This will encourage an amazing character trait for them! You will be demonstrating, first hand, how to problem solve. You can discuss, together, what possible solutions there are to this problem. Walk through different scenarios and the possible consequences for each solution. Is there someone close by you could call? Maria shared that they stopped and talked about possible ways to resolve their problem – together.
By discussing this out loud, with her children, a woman walking by (who was able to hear what was going on) stated that there was a parking lot just about ½ mile up the path, so they decided that Maria’s daughter would ride her bike there, on the flat tire. They knew it would be a little difficult, but she could do it! They started and a gentleman came running by. He offered to carry her bike to the parking lot for her.He not only picked it up and carried it, he continued running, to the parking lot! What an amazing act of kindness!!!!
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