The Terminator vs. A Pothole
A two step system for teaching your kids to solve their own problems, and manage their own emotions.
Over the past few days, I've been following the Schwarzenegger vs Pothole story pretty closely.
If you don't quite have as much free time on your hands as me, here's a breakdown:
Stage 1: A couple of days ago, ex-governor and ex-Terminator, Arnold Schwarzenegger, made a video of himself filling in a pothole in the road outside his house. According to Arnold the neighbors had been complaining about it for weeks, with no result, so he decided to do something about it.
He said, "I always say, let's not complain, let's do something about it. Here you go."
Stage 2: Then, a few days later, the authorities responded, saying that Arnold didn't fill a pothole, but that instead “it was a service trench permitted for a project by Social Gas.”
Stage 3: Finally, in the latest update Arnold hits back at the authorities, accusing them of leaving the service trench for too long, saying "If the gas company thinks finishing their work and leaving a trench in one lane of a two-lane road for six months that requires cars and bicyclists to drive in wrong way traffic - again, for six months - they should go back to school."
Now, I just love the idea of Arnold Schwarzenegger deciding one day that enough is enough, that he will solve his own problems.
That is something I am trying to teach my kids as well.
When we interviewed Dr. Rosina McAlpine for our book "How To Get Your Kids To Listen", she shared her two-step system that she designed to teach children how to manage their own emotions, and solve their own problems.
Dr. Rosina McAlpine is an author, family wellbeing expert, multi-award-winning educator, and CEO of Win Win Parenting. She specializes in supporting and helping working parents.
According the Dr. Rosina, the benefit of teaching this two-step process to your children is that it is something they can use throughout their life.
The one that I really like I call the “two-step process,” and I love it because you can use it with a toddler, or you can use it with a teenager. So, it’s one technique that you learn, and you teach the kids for life. You don’t have to change it...I really love this technique because it’s a never-ending source of ways in which a young child, primary school, high school, or beyond can overcome issues.
Dr. Rosina McAlpine
In the interview, Dr. Rosina shares how you can teach your child to acknowledge and manage their emotions, and also how to guide them to think of ideas to solve their own problems.
She also shares a very useful emotion managing strategy that you can teach your young children. I have been using this technique with my kids and it works great to get them to calm down when they are upset.