Posts Tagged effective questioning

Asking is Better than Telling

On December 13, 2013 / Effectiveness, Parenting

Answering a question with a question is one of the most effective approaches a parent (or anyone) can use. Whether in everyday, casual conversation or in a discipline situation, questions are much more effective than telling.

For example, if the young person asks you a question of which you are not sure how to respond (or if you want the young person to give more thought to the subject), put the conversational ball back by asking a question in a non-confrontational way. Some questions to consider are:

“What do you mean?”
“What makes you ask that?”
“What do you think … (the reason is … we should do next … the best option is … etc.)?”

The beauty of this … >>>

Victimization

On September 8, 2010 / Responsibility

Avoid the victimization mentality for yourself—and for others. Victim type thinking is toxic and disempowering. Empowerment is so much more effective. And even if it were not, you would still be happier in an empowerment mode than in a victimhood mode.

Believing that learning is prohibited because students come from unstructured homes, from poverty, or have some other situation that cannot be changed is a mindset of victimhood thinking. Certainly, some home situations diminish optimum learning, but they do not prevent learning.

Regardless of the situation, people can be taught that they can be masters of their fate, that they can be victors rather than victims. Students can be taught that they have the power to choose to learn or … >>>