0928JW_CH13 29/5/02 2:54 pm Page 165

Think Good - Feel Good

Paul Stallard
Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons Ltd
ISBN: 0470842903 (Paperback)

LEARNING TO SOLVE PROBLEMS

c CHAPTER THIRTEEN
b
Learning to solve
problems
Each day brings a new set of problems and challenges. For example:

dealing with being unfairly told off by a teacher

trying to stay in your seat at school

coping with teasing by an annoying brother or sister

negotiating with your parents about staying out late.

When we encounter a problem we have to think about the different ways in

which we could deal with it and then make a decision about what we will do or
say. Sometimes we make the right choice, while at other times we seem to get
it wrong. There will always be times when this happens, but some people
seem to make more wrong choices or find it harder to solve problems than
others. When this happens it is useful to think about how you are dealing with
your problems and whether you could try to solve them in different ways.

Why do problems happen?

There are many reasons why we are unable to solve our problems
successfully. Three of these reasons are particularly common.

Acting without thinking

Decisions and choices are sometimes made too quickly. You may rush into
something without really thinking through what will happen.

Nick heard his dad say that he had left the shopping in the car. Wanting to
be helpful, Nick rushed out and carried all the bags from the back seat of
the car into the house. He didn’t check with his parents, but if he had he
would have found out that their shopping was in the car boot. The bags he
brought in were for a party his dad was organizing at work.

165
0928JW_CH13 29/5/02 2:54 pm Page 166

Sabrina heard her teacher’s instructions to copy her work into her book,
THINK GOOD – FEEL GOOD

and she immediately picked up her pen and started. Unfortunately, she
didn’t hear the next instruction, which told her to use a pencil and to start
her work on a new page.

Nick and Sabrina were both trying to be helpful, but in their rush they created
more problems for themselves.

Feelings take over

Strong feelings like anger or anxiety sometimes take over and prevent us
from thinking problems through and making the right choices about what we
do or say.

Mike became very angry when he was tackled during a game of football,
and he kicked the other player. The referee sent Mike off the pitch.

Jenny didn’t understand her schoolwork, but was really worried about
asking her teacher for help. She didn’t ask, she got her homework wrong
and she had to stay behind after school and do it again.

Mike knew that if he kicked someone he would be sent off. Jenny knew that if
she got her schoolwork wrong she would have to do it again. At the time,
Mike and Jenny were not able to think about the consequences of their
behaviour. Strong feelings took over and prevented them from thinking these
situations through.

Can’t see any other solution

The third main reason why we can’t solve problems is because we just can’t
think of another way of doing things. We become very fixed in our ideas and
can’t see any other solutions.

Learn to stop and think

It is useful to learn a way of dealing with problems which ensures that you
don’t rush in with the first thing that comes into your head. A helpful
approach is the Stop, Plan and Go traffic-light system.

166
0928JW_CH13 29/5/02 2:54 pm Page 167

RED. Before you do anything, think of the red traffic light and Stop.

LEARNING TO SOLVE PROBLEMS

AMBER. Plan and think about what you want to do or say.

GREEN. Go with your plan.

The first step is often the hardest, and sometimes you may find it hard to
STOP yourself from rushing in. Practise imagining a picture of some traffic
lights and as you see the red light think to yourself STOP. As the light comes
on, take a few deep breaths. This may help you to calm down and slow down
enough to let you plan and think about what you want to do. The more you
practise, the easier it will become.
You can also use this system at school. You can remind yourself by putting
red, amber and green coloured strips around a pencil or ruler or on your
pencil case. Seeing the strips will help you to think ‘Stop, Plan and Go’, but
no one else will know what the strips mean.

Identify different solutions

Sometimes we meet the same problem or challenge every day but often end
up making the wrong decision over and over again. When this happens, it is
useful to stop and think about all of the different ways in which you can deal
with this problem.
Try using the ‘OR’ method to find as many possible solutions as you can.
Another way of doing this is to take a sheet of paper and write down all of the
possible solutions you can think of in two minutes. The idea is to get as
many ideas as you can, so don’t worry if some of them seem unrealistic or
silly.

Billy is ignored

Billy felt that his friends often ignored him, so he used the ‘OR’ method to
find ways in which he could get his friends to listen to him.

I could talk louder OR

shout OR

stand in front of their faces so that they would have to listen to me OR

keep repeating myself OR

167
0928JW_CH13 29/5/02 2:54 pm Page 168

talk with one person rather than all the group OR

THINK GOOD – FEEL GOOD

find things to talk about that really interested them OR

find a new group of friends!

For Billy, the idea of shouting all the time seemed silly, and changing his
group of friends was not really possible. Some of the other ideas he came up
with were more useful. Billy decided that he needed to listen more carefully to
the things that really interested his friends. He also decided that he would try
to talk more with people on their own, rather than trying to join in with the
group discussions.
If you find it hard to think of any different ways of dealing with your problems,
then it may be useful to talk this over with someone else. Ask how they would
deal with your problem, and see if they can suggest some different ideas.

Think through the consequences

Once you have made a list of possible solutions, the next step is to work out
which is the best one. Think about the positive and negative consequences of
each idea and then choose the one that you think, on balance, will work best.
This involves five steps.

1 What is my problem?
2 How could I deal with this problem?
3 What are the positive consequences of each solution?
4 What are the negative consequences of each solution?
5 On balance, what is the best solution?

Marla gets teased

Three girls at school have started to tease Marla and call her names at break-
time. On the first day, Marla became very angry and chased after the girls. On
the second day, she hit one of the girls and ended up in trouble in front of the
head-teacher. On the third day, she called the girls names back, but this
seemed to make the name-calling worse. Marla decided to sit down and work
out how she would cope with this problem.

168
0928JW_CH13 29/5/02 2:54 pm Page 169

LEARNING TO SOLVE PROBLEMS

My problem: being teased by Emma, Kate and Jo
What I could do Positive consequences Negative consequences
Hit them whenever Would make me feel I’d get into more trouble
they call me names better! I might be suspended
OR from school
They might start to hit me
Find a teacher to The teacher would sort They might tease me even
tell OR it out and I wouldn’
t more for telling the
get into any more teacher
trouble I might not be able to
find a teacher
Ignore them OR If I don’
t react they BUT I CAN’ T DO IT
might get bored because they annoy me
so much!
Stay away from They can’ t tease me This might not always
them at break-times I won’t get into trouble be easy
They might find They might come and
something else to do look for me
On balance, the best way to solve this problem is to stay out of their way at break-times.
If they come and find me, I’ll move away and move closer to a teacher.

Thinking this problem through was helpful for Marla. Although hitting the
girls made her feel better, she also realized that this had other consequences
which were not good. Marla weighed up all of the ideas, and on balance she
chose to stay away from the girls at break-times.

Remind yourself what to do

There will be times when, although you know the best way of dealing with
your problems, you slip back into your old ways as your new plans are
forgotten.
If this happens, you need to work out how you can remind yourself to use
your new plan. The people in these examples found some very simple ways to
help them to remember how to solve their problems.

169
0928JW_CH13 29/5/02 2:54 pm Page 170

THINK GOOD – FEEL GOOD

Michael fiddles with his pencil case

Michael was in trouble every day at school for fiddling with his pencils and
pencil case. He wanted to stop this habit, and he problem-solved with his
teacher about what he could do. He decided that he might be able to stop
fiddling by sitting on his hands when the teacher was speaking. He agreed
with his teacher that she would lightly touch his shoulder if Michael forgot.
Michael also decided to put his pencil case in his bag, rather than leaving it
out on his desk. He stuck a sign on the inside of his pencil case saying ‘put
me in your bag’, to help him to remember.

Jemma’s room is always untidy

Jemma was always in trouble at home for having an untidy bedroom. This
had become more of a problem for her recently since her parents had
stopped her pocket money. Even when she tried to tidy her room, she never
seemed to get it right. There was always something she forgot to do. She
decided that she had to stop this happening, and she drew up a ‘tidy
bedroom checklist’ which she put on her bedroom wall. She listed all of the
things she needed to do to tidy her room.

Pick clothes up off the floor.

Put dirty clothes in the washing bin.

Put clean clothes in drawers and wardrobe.

Make bed.

Put magazines and books in a tidy pile.

Put CDs in their cases.

Jemma agreed a time with her parents when she would tidy her room, and
she used the list to make sure that she did not forget to do anything.

Henry gets wound up

Henry had a very quick temper and became very angry – shouting, swearing
and sometimes hitting out. He was always fighting, and had recently been
suspended from school for two days. Henry problem-solved this with his best
friend and decided that he needed to ‘bail out’ of arguments. He needed to

170
0928JW_CH13 29/5/02 2:54 pm Page 171

LEARNING TO SOLVE PROBLEMS

stop and walk away rather than stay and argue. This was not easy for Henry,
so his friend agreed that he would help. When Henry started to become
angry, his friend would tell him to ‘bail out’. This was the signal for Henry to
stop, walk away and calm down. Henry’s friend was very helpful and,
although it was not easy, Henry started to learn that he could deal with
arguments in a better way.

Practise getting it right

Learning to deal with problems in new or different ways is not always easy. It
can take time, and you may need to practise before you get it right. As with
most things, the more you practise the easier it will become.

Imagine yourself changing the ending

Think about your problem and imagine yourself solving it differently. Instead
of using your old solutions, change the ending and imagine yourself being
successful. Choose a quiet time and get a really good picture of your problem
situation in your mind.

Describe the scene as well as you can.

Imagine who will be there.

Think about what is going on and what is being said.

Imagine yourself using your new solution and being successful.

Remember to praise yourself for solving your problem so well.

Millie rushes around

Millie was always in trouble at school for rushing around. Sometimes she
would knock and push people in her hurry to be first. She decided that she
needed to calm down, and that she would count to five before she did
anything. Millie imagined herself using this idea at the end of lessons, going
into the dining hall and coming in after lunchtime. Imagining herself
counting and becoming calm helped her to prepare to use this idea when she
got to school.

171
0928JW_CH13 29/5/02 2:54 pm Page 172

THINK GOOD – FEEL GOOD

Practise acting it out

It is useful to practise using your new skills by acting out your problem
situations with friends. Try to make the situation as real as possible, and
think about who will be there, what will be said and how they will react. Try
out different solutions and see what works well.
Acting out problem situations can be good fun, and if you take it in turns you
may find that you can learn some useful tips from your friends!

Plan to be successful
Problem-solving is often used to stop things happening.

Marla wanted to stop being teased.

Michael wanted his teacher to stop telling him off.

Henry wanted to stop fighting.

Another way to solve problems is to think about the things you want to
happen and then plan how you can be successful.

Kia wants to sleep over

Kia wanted to sleep at her friend’s house but she didn’t think her mum would
let her. They were having a lot of arguments, and Kia knew that unless this
situation changed her mum would not allow a sleepover. Kia problem-solved
how this could change. She knew that this would take time, and she saw the
main job as stopping the arguments with her mum. Most of these were
about Kia not helping around the house, so she decided that she would start
to keep her room tidy. She also decided that she would help to lay the table
for meals and help with the washing up afterwards. Kia’s mother was very
surprised and also very pleased. They argued less, and after a week Kia asked
her mother if she could sleep over at her friend’s house. Her mother agreed,
saying that if Kia was now prepared to help around the home, then she
should be allowed some special privileges.

172
0928JW_CH13 29/5/02 2:54 pm Page 173

LEARNING TO SOLVE PROBLEMS

Talk yourself through it
Another useful way of learning to solve problems is to ask someone who is
successful to talk you through what they do.

Ask them to tell you what they do.

Watch them doing it.

Then talk yourself through your problem.

This can be very helpful for those problems that seem to occur fairly often.

Mike doesn’t know what to say to his friends

Mike felt very worried when he met his friends because he often did not know
what to talk about. His friend Reuben was very popular and always seemed to
know what to say, so Mike asked for his help. Reuben said that when he
arrived at school each morning he would go up to his group of friends, say
hello and talk about something that had been on television last night, such as
a sports match or the latest episode of their favourite TV soap. Reuben went
to school with Mike the next day and as they arrived Reuben talked aloud
about what he was going to do as Mike watched. The next day, when Mike
arrived at school he talked aloud about what he was going to do. ‘I’m going
to walk across the playground, go up to Max and Errol, say hello and ask if
they saw what happened on our favourite TV soap last night’. Mike did this
and was pleased to find that he was soon chatting with his friends. The next
day he talked himself through it again, and after a few times Mike found that
he was now doing this without thinking.

Don’t rush – learn to STOP, PLAN and GO.

Think about the different ways in which you could solve your problem.

Think through the consequences of each solution.

On balance, choose the best solution.

Ask someone successful to tell you what they do, then watch them and
finally talk yourself through it.

Find ways to remind yourself to use your plans.

173
0928JW_CH13 29/5/02 2:54 pm Page 174

LEARNING TO SOLVE PROBLEMS

0
THINK GOOD – FEEL GOOD

Identifying possible solutions

What is my problem?

Write down ALL of the possible ways in which you can solve this problem. The
idea is to try to find as many different solutions as possible.

1 I could solve this problem by:

2 OR

3 OR

4 OR

5 OR

6 OR

7 OR

174
0928JW_CH13 29/5/02 2:54 pm Page 175

LEARNING TO SOLVE PROBLEMS

THINK GOOD – FEEL GOOD

Identifying possible solutions

It is useful to find out how other people might solve this problem. Think of
someone who you think could help, and ask them what ideas they might
suggest.

I asked:

They suggested that I could solve this problem by:

175
0928JW_CH13 29/5/02 2:54 pm Page 176

LEARNING TO SOLVE PROBLEMS

0
THINK GOOD – FEEL GOOD

What are the consequences of my

solutions?

Write down your problem and list the different solutions you have identified.
Think about the negative and positive consequences of each solution and write
these down. When you have finished, look at your list and on balance choose
the best solution for your problem.

My problem is:

Possible solution Positive consequences Negative consequences

On balance, the best way of solving this problem is:

176
0928JW_CH13 29/5/02 2:54 pm Page 177

LEARNING TO SOLVE PROBLEMS

THINK GOOD – FEEL GOOD

Looking for solutions

blem
My pro

Write down or draw your problem and fill in all of the possible solutions you
can think of.

177
0928JW_CH13 29/5/02 2:54 pm Page 178

LEARNING TO SOLVE PROBLEMS

0
THINK GOOD – FEEL GOOD

Talk yourself through it

If you find that the same problem occurs over and over again, then find out
how someone else copes, watch them do it and then talk yourself through
their plan for success.

What is my problem?

Who could I talk with who is successful?

How do they deal with this problem?

When can I watch them talk me through their plan?

178
0928JW_CH13 29/5/02 2:54 pm Page 179

LEARNING TO SOLVE PROBLEMS

THINK GOOD – FEEL GOOD

Talk yourself through it

When shall I try to use this plan?

What will I say to myself?

How am I going to reward myself for being successful?

How did it go?

179
0928JW_CH13 29/5/02 2:54 pm Page 180

LEARNING TO SOLVE YOUR PROBLEMS

0
THINK GOOD – FEEL GOOD

Stop, plan and go

Use the traffic lights to help you to plan how you will deal
with your problem.

STOP. What is your problem?

PLAN. What is your solution?

GO. When will you try it out?

180