Good, dog!

This morning when I let my dog our front, Marco climbed up on a tree stump (no, we are not in Brooklyn). He walked around the small stump looking for a way to get down and then he looked at me. I said, “you got up there and you have to get yourself down.” He continued to walk the stump until he found one of the shortest areas to the ground and then he jumped off. We have a tendency as parents, at least I do, to provide our children with solutions, rather than let them figure it out on their own. A few weeks back my daughter wasn’t happy with dinner and complained. I offered her several solutions and she nixed all of them. Not wanting to continue this standstill, I took the dog for a walk since Marco had just eaten his dinner. By the time I returned from the walk, my daughter had an idea of what she wanted for dinner and asked me to help her prepare it. Her solution wasn’t one of the ones I came up with. Problem-solving is an essential skill to have, so our children need to learn it. My dog figured out how to get off the stump and my daughter figured out her dinner meal so I need to remember to let them solve their own problems. My role for my daughter is to be a sounding board, guide her if needed, and put in my 2 cents if asked. For my dog, my role is to take him down from the stump if he is stumped (pun intended) as to how to get down.