Today’s edition is brought to you by us! - The newsletter that gives you great resources for free. Spread the news!

So, the other day, I was tutoring two kids, and we usually start the tutoring session with their homework. Sometimes, if they have barely any homework or none, we will start off with games for 10 minutes.

One day, after a student missed a day, one of the students had double the homework for missing school the day before. Then, he asked if they could play the game even though he had double the work.

I will tell you how I handle it, but before I do, I want you to think about how you would handle the situation. I know some of you might say 'no' right away and just tell him, 'You have double the work, and I’m here to tutor you, not just to play games.'

Here’s some more context: right after he asked, he mentioned that we played the game for 10 minutes before homework a couple of days ago. While you are thinking of your response, here’s a quick word from our sponsor.

Sadly, I can’t hear your response 😅, but I would love to hear yours. So, how did I respond? I did what I just did to you—I asked a question. Think about it; in many professional settings, even if the person knows the answer, they ask questions to get more context and give the best response.

A couple of examples are when someone gets pulled over for speeding. The officer doesn’t tell you what speed you are going but asks, 'Do you know how fast you were speeding?' Another example is in court; the judge doesn’t just say 'guilty' but listens to both sides first and receives as much evidence as possible.

THE QUESTION…

I asked, 'Didn’t you just say you have double the work today that we have to do?' My student replied, 'Yes,' but added, 'The other day, we played first.' I then asked another question, 'Shouldn’t we work on this now to make sure it gets done before you leave?' He agreed and then asked if he could have a longer break to play the game for like 15 minutes. Typically, the break is 10 minutes, and I said, 'Yeah, but let’s make it double to 20 minutes.' He was excited and went straight to work.

So, did I say the right thing? Some would say no; a simple no would do the job. I might agree with the child I work with because he is respectful and listens. However, that overlooks the mutual respect we have built by having open dialogue. This dialogue has built the respect. So, I'm going to put you on game by putting the word 'no' away and going more in-depth on how questions can change everything. But really quickly, look below for the ad of the day.

*Please give a gentle round of applause too…*