Flexibility is a crucial part of getting along with a group.Many children (and adults!) develop strong preferences that can lead to more rigid thinking (always wanting a certain color or needing to do something in a specific way), a resistance to try new things, challenges with transitioning from one activity to another, or difficulty making compromises.
Here are 10 Ways to Increase Flexibility at Home:
1. Change the rules to a game (rule changes should either benefit or challenge all players in the same way)
2. Take a new route to school, practice, grocery store, etc.
3. Have breakfast for dinner or dinner for breakfast
4. When problems arise, brainstorm 3-5 solutions– even if your first solution worked
5. Eat dinner in a new location at home– try a picnic (outdoors or indoors)
6. Print a map of our neighborhood and draw out all of the possible paths to get to school– try a new one each day!
7. When reading with your child, imagine with them what the character’s life would be like if they had made a different choice (ex: different career, major life decision, etc)
8. Do your nighttime or morning routine in a different order
9. Do a building activity with your child where you each take turns putting on a piece to one structure– you cannot move or change pieces that other people have placed
10. Use optical illusions or ink blots to list all of the possible images that can be found