Will I get up now or hit the snooze button one more time (and probably be late for work)? Will I stop the kids from fighting now or wait until they draw blood? Will I take time to eat breakfast or eat a donut at coffee break (and feel guilty about the calories the rest of the day)? A friend just called to tell me my child beat up his child after school today. How will I deal with my child?

We all have our own way of dealing with choices.

Often our dilemma is how to make the “best” choice. How do I know something is not going to be a bad choice?

In this series we will discover a decision-making process we can use with the important children in our lives.

Through their small and weighty decisions, they will develop their own style. If the end result is their growth, we have done well.

Examples of growth results would be to….

• Learn something new that increases the child’s ability to advance the common good
• Heal relationships, bringing out greater cooperation and harmony
• Strengthen character traits like integrity or patience

Unwise choices are often the ones we end up wishing we hadn’t made.

We can think of examples of these choices in our lives, our political, religious, business leaders’ lives and our children’s lives. We tend to make these choices….

• for short-term pleasure
• to look out only for our own interests
• to relieve emotional pain or stress
• without thought for the consequences

With so many variables in our lives, making a good choice may seem, at times, an overwhelming task.

Maybe that’s why so many people try to turn to God for guidance: “If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.”

4 preparation questions for adults before we guide children

Before we begin guiding children, we can first take a deeper look at our own decision-making processes. Use the questions below to think through your own personal history.

1. Which of the following best represents your decision-making style at the present time? Impulsive, logical, avoidance, emotional, imagining the worst, victim of circumstances/people, others:_______, _______.
2. What decision can you remember making as a child that changed the course of your life?
3. As an adult, what’s a decision you made that hurt you? Helped you? Greatly affected someone else?
4. Describe a decision you are facing today that is of concern to you.

Stay tuned for the rest of this series as we look at how to teach children good decision-making processes, one part at a time.

(My friend Linda Sibley designed the CHOOSE tool and she is excited I’m sharing it here. This entry is part of a series.)

Tweetable:

• Unwise choices are often the ones we end up wishing we hadn’t made. Guide kids toward better choices. Click to Tweet
• Do you know kids who have trouble making decisions? Good, wise decisions? Break it down for them here. Click to Tweet