Advantages/Disadvantages

Purpose
To discuss difficult situations and look at alternative ways of reacting

You will need

Paper and pencils

How to do it

Have the sibling divide the paper into three columns with the headings:
Strategy - Advantages - Disadvantages.

Present the sibling with different common situations such as being asked to take his/her brother or sister to school, being teased, brother or sister breaking one of their belongings etc.

Ask the sibling to think how it makes him/her feel (e.g. angry, anxious, tense). Ask the sibling to devise two (or more) strategies for dealing with the situation and list them in the Strategy column.

Then consider one Advantage and one Disadvantage of each strategy. Discuss which strategy would work best.

For example:
Brother or sister breaks your toy
Strategy 1 – Shout at my brother
Advantage – Gets rid of my anger
Disadvantage – Will upset my brother and I’ll feel guilty

Strategy 2 – Put my toy away before he gets home
Advantage – Will stop it happening
Disadvantage – I’ll still feel angry with him 

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