Once you have a list of ideas, it is time to play what if? You need to evaluate each suggestion and think of the possible consequences of each potential choice. You may have to help your family remember that there are both short term and long term consequences to our choices. Returning to my fairy tale theme, you will note that the ants thought of long term consequences by storing food in the summer to sustain them in the cold winter. The grasshopper, on the other hand, did what he wanted to do in the moment - sing and play his fiddle in the warm sun. Disney sanitized the story by having the ants take in the starving grasshopper when the weather got cold, but the ending was far different in the original story by French writer, Jean de la Fontaine:
Queen: What did you do all summer?
Grasshopper: I sang. I hope that doesn't displease you.
Queen: You sang. I understand. So dance now*
(as she shuts him out in the cold to die.)
Not every problem has a long term consequence as serious as that one!
The simplest methods for evaluating possible choices are the Pros/Cons exercise and the Consequences evaluation.** We've just talked about about looking at possible consequences. The other method involves looking and the plus and minus of each idea. You might even make a simple T-chart to write down each + or -.
_______________________________
+ -
(You'll have to imagine the line between the + and -
since I haven't figured out how to do that on Blogspot!)
For example: in the fairytale the + for the grasshopper's choice is that he gets to have fun, relax in the sun, and practice his singing and playing. The - is that by spending all of his time having fun, he doesn't take the time to plan ahead for winter by storing food and building a warm nest that will keep him out of the freezing cold. The ants, by evaluating the pros and cons have chosen to give up a little short term pleasure in order to be prepared "when the winter winds blow!"
Tomorrow, we will talk about three other ways to evaluate possible choices. Which one you choose to use will depend on the type of problem you have and the ages and personalities of the other people in the family. See you then!
* En Francais:
Fourmi: Que fait ayez vous en temps chaud?
Cigale: J'ai chanté.
Fourmi: Vous chanté? Eh bien, danser maintenant!
(Sorry. I had to show off a little. This is one of the few things I remember from high school French!)
** Evaluation guidelines adapted from Joining Together by David and Frank Johnson,
Prentice Hall, Inc, 1982.
Text © 2012 Gebara
Education
Picture of The Grasshopper and the Ants from www.hopallthings.blogspot.com
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