Pathways and Triggers 41been on that arrived safely. About how calm the flight at-
tendants look. About how many of my fellow passengers
are fast asleep. Even when there’s turbulence. Quite un-
intentionally, that Air Florida pilot had given me a new
way of thinking, which was helpful to me during mo-
ments when I was inclined to become highly irrational.
Instead of staring out the window thinking “What if the
wing falls off?” I could instead think a less anxiety-
provoking thought, such as, “The pilot doesn’t want to
die” or “The likelihood of something catastrophic hap-
pening to my aircraft is really quite slim.” As you’ll see,
one of the most valuable things we can do for an explo-
sive child is to help him stay rational at times when he’s
likely to become irrational.
Can irritable or anxious children be helped to prob-
lem solve more adaptively and at the same time reduce
their irritability and anxiety? Certainly. But not by put-
ting a lot of effort into coming up with new and creative
ways to punish them.
COGNITIVE FLEXIBILITY SKILLSVery young children tend to be fairly rigid, black-and-
white, literal, inflexible thinkers. That’s because they’re
still making sense of the world and it’s easier to put two
and two together if you don’t have to worry about ex-