Let your kid do the thinking

The following story was submitted to me by a local mom who practices Love and Logic with her 13 year old son. If you have a story -- agony or ecstasy! -- I'd love to hear it.

I have been trying to finish up some house projects before school starts. I was painting some trim and left the clean paint roller out on the counter to dry. The next morning, I picked up the roller and noticed that it was soaking wet. I asked 13 yo Jayden if he had wet it and he admitted that he had.

I used Love and Logic and commented on how sad it was that now I couldn't get my painting done. He knew that we were going to do screen time after we got our chores done and immediately started asking how he could fix it. I said that I didn't know and that I would just wait another day for the roller to dry. I then sat on the couch and picked up my book.

After about a half hour, Jayden brought me the roller, which was now mostly dry. He had taken it outside and worked at squeezing the water out and put it in the direct sun. I explained that I was using oil paint and he knew that oil and water don't mix. He then left again with the roller and I returned to my book.

He returned 15 minutes later with the roller dry, but dirty. He had dried it by rolling it on the black lid of the garbage can. I asked how I was to use a dirty roller on clean paint? He left again with the roller and I returned to my book.

About 5 minutes later he brought me a clean roller. He had used a towel to clean all of the dirt off and to finish drying the roller. He was so proud when he brought it to me and said, "Now you can finish your painting." I was so impressed with his problem solving!

I love that I didn't have to do anything! I was thinking that I would have to go to the hardware store and buy another roller! Just goes to show that by not solving the problem for him, he came up with a solution I never would have thought of. And all I had to do was sit down and read my book!