I so agree with Dr. Debra's post yesterday. I worry that we are not providing an environment that teaches our children critical thinking. We cannot be high functioning adults with out this. I have been thinking about this today in relationship to allowing our teens to make more of their own decisions. When we turn over this process on a specific issue it is difficult for us to allow them to sort through the decision. We have a tendency to want to interject our opinions. It is even more difficult when the decision does not work out too well. In an effort to help them develop more critical thinking skills we need to allow them to make mistakes and then "be curious" about how it worked out. We need to ask questions about what they will do next. If we take over because it did not work out well they will not develop confidence in decision making and they will be more likely to turn to us to make decisions for them.
Good luck and be patient. The rewards are worth it. Sherri
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