Learning Curves 147your thinking that keeps you from speeding, thinking about
the likely outcomes of, and who else is likely to be affected
by, your behavior. This type of thinking is taught with Plan
B. A child raised with Plan A is still completely dependent
on adults (or other authority figures) to tell him what to do
and make sure he does it.
Are safety issues best addressed with Plan A?In previous variants of the CPS model, safety was ad-
dressed with Plan A. Now it’s barely addressed with Plan A.
Why? Because problems that cause children to be unsafe
don’t get solved with Plan A; they get solved with Plan B.
Of course, if you see your child doing something unsafe
(for example, darting into the path of a moving car in a
parking lot), it’s time for Plan A. Grab his arm, save his life,
and if he explodes, so be it. But if you’ve noticed that he’s
chronically darting into the path of moving cars and you’re
chronically grabbing his arm to save his life, Plan A is clearly
not getting the job done. Time for Proactive Plan B:Parent (Empathy): Clark, I’ve noticed that it’s a little
hard for you to stay next to me when we’re in
parking lots. And then we get mad at each
other because I have to grab you. You know
what I mean?
Clark: Yup.