91原创

Making Decisions

Written by: 91原创 Cooperative Extension
Revised August 2025 by: Kayla Hayes
Corresponding Author: Gina Crist,聽Health & Well-being Program Leader

Children can learn to make healthy decisions with support from their parents.

Parents can help children learn to make decisions by working together with them rather than always being in total control.

These are the basic steps in decision making:

• Define the problem from each person鈥檚 point of view.

• Establish your goal. What do you want to happen?

• Consider the solutions. What are all the possible solutions?

• Identify the consequences. What would the effects of each of the solutions be?

• Decide. Choose the best solution and make a commitment to action.

• Empower your children. Help them deal with stress, build self-esteem, handle peer pressure, choose a healthy lifestyle and develop new skills.

How? By:

• Talking about how you make decisions.

• Teaching them the decision-making steps.

• Reminding your children to use the decision-making steps.

• Suggesting alternatives and consequences.

• Praising and reinforcing good decisions and good decision-making processes.

• Helping your children evaluate decisions, rather than criticizing them.

• SMART Goals

• SMART is an acronym that stands for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Time-Bound

• Help your child set SMART goals for themselves.

• For example: 鈥淚 will get an A on my math test this week鈥� or 鈥淚 will finish putting my toys in the toy box before dinner time.鈥�

• Encourage your child to make decisions that will support their goals

• For example: 鈥淲hich decision would help you to achieve your goal? Studying for your math test, or watching television?鈥�

Download/Print PDF Version