The Explosive Child: A New Approach for Understanding and Parenting Easily Frustrated, Chronically Inflexible Children

by Ross W. Greene

What about the real world? What if my kid has a “Plan A” boss someday? ANSWER: A Plan A boss is a problem to be solved. Which skill set is more important for life in the real world: the blind adherence to authority taught with Plan A, or identifying and articulating one’s concerns, taking others’ concerns into account, and working toward solutions that are realistic and mutually satisfactory with Plan B? If kids are completely dependent on the imposition of adult will to do the right thing, then what will they do when adults aren’t around to impose their will? My friend Tony Wagner has written some very influential books—including The Global Achievement Gap: Why Even Our Best Schools Don’t Teach the New Survival Skills Our Children Need—and What We Can Do About It—about the skills kids are going to need to lead productive, adaptive lives in the future. Foremost among those skills: collaboration and problem solving. Blind adherence to authority didn’t make the list.