1) Think of a particular child you know. You may choose your child, someone from your neighborhood, or someone from your childhood. (You choose.)
2) Think of that child’s problem behaviors. (You choose.)
3) Consider possible short-term negative outcomes resulting from the problem behavior. In other words, think of something unpleasant that you can imagine happening because of the behavior – but nothing too traumatic. For instance, if the child insists on sleeping in his parents’ bed, maybe you imagine his friends no longer coming over because they feel he acts too babyish.
4) Now work backwards from the imagined outcome. For instance:
- Your son’s friend stops coming over. Why?
- Because your son no longer has his own room. Why?
- Because Dad turned it into an office. Why?
- Because bedrooms are for sleeping and your son is no longer sleeping in his!
5) Take the story arc you’ve just defined, add a beginning.
Start with a happy child [unconcerned] with the problem behavior, and an ending (in which the child chooses, as a result of the negative outcome, to self-correct the behavior), and you should have a complete story ready for writing! These five (5) brainstorming techniques should help your writing juices to flow.