Wow…EI genius, huh? I’ll take that as a spectacular compliment from someone I really respect! THANKS Nathan! 🙂

Yes, this is a really hard topic. Have you been there? What’d you do? I wonder if being in a more rural area where you are, do you find that these kinds of “favor” requests come up more often? It was my experience, when I was working in a very rural area, that I was asked about things like this a little more often because of the distance families needed to travel for supplies or errands. They couldn’t just walk down the street to a grocery store if the car died.

Nathan

I think your answer is a very honest one, Shelah, and I thank you for that. I think, in a pinch, many of us would do the same. I would encourage you to ask those questions of the parent BEFORE you jump in and help, whenever possible. If you can help the parent reflect first and maybe solve her own problem without your intervention, then as you know, she’ll be better prepared for next time. In the moment, though, it’s a tough call and we all do the best we can. As long as we are always thinking about how we can help build the parent’s capacity to meet her own/her child’s needs, we’ll be doing “the right thing” whenever we get in a pinch. Thanks for adding to the discussion!

Thanks Kim! Yes, I sure do wish I had had coaching training way back then…there are so many things I would change!! I really like how you say that using these skills would have been helpful to BOTH of us. Had I had those tools in my “toolbox,” I think I could have helped the family much more, and been much better prepared for challenging situations like this!