Enhance Problem Solving Skills: Know Its Various Aspects
counsellor
World is changing rapidly and everything around us is changing every day. Some of the jobs that didn’t even exist 10 years back are one of the highly sought after today.

Similarly by the time your child grows up you do not know the jobs that would be available for him/her. No matter what the demands his/her work places on him/her as parents you need to try your best to prepare your child for the coming challenges.

One of the skills that you can work towards developing in your child would be to enhance his/her problem solving skills.

Discuss various scenarios with your child wherein he/she can try to solve different imaginary problems. Whenever you get an opportunity support your child in solving his/her real life problems in a systematic manner.

Have discussions with him related to different aspects of dealing with a problem, discuss things like

1. Can there be only one way to solve a problem?
2. Can people around us help to solve problems in better way?
3. What are some of the important components of a good team?
4. Will you take less time to solve a problem alone or when a group is involved? Give reasons
5. How can problems be solved by thinking out of the box?
6. How can resource management help in solving problems?
7. Identify people who can help you solve your problems.

Discuss the importance of teamwork, respect and sharing while discussing various aspects of problem solving. Discuss different steps of problem solving

1. What is the problem?
You need to work out exactly what the problem is before you can start to solve it, so ask yourself, "What’s the problem?"

2. How do you feel?
There's a good chance you will have "upset" type of feelings when you are dealing with a big problem. What are those feelings?

3. Make a plan
Think of different solutions to solve the problem.
Will it make the problem bigger or smaller? Think over it or talk to someone who can help you figure out some ideas about different solutions. Choose a solution.

4. Take Action
Put your plan to work. Give your solution a go. What happened?

5. Check up
If the problem doesn't get smaller, don't give up, try another solution. Check how you are feeling.
Help your child apply this problem solving steps in real life situations and discuss its impact on him/her. The more to support your child to solve issues in a systematic manner the more they will start looking for solutions in face of a problem rather than getting upset due to a problem.
-Mohan Tiwari 
Founder, CEO, Students Destination.com
 
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