Choices and consequences
Five exercises for an older child on what follows from a decision — including a ripple diagram showing how one choice reaches people who were never in the room.
Free to download and print. Nothing to pay, no account needed.
What it is for
This sheet is usually reached for after something has happened. It works best when it is not presented that way. Four of its five exercises are about other people’s invented situations, which lets a young person think clearly before anything of theirs is on the page.
The fifth, the ripple effect, is the one most likely to land. One choice, then person one, person two, person three, then wider impact — drawn rather than argued.
Using it in a session
- Do not use it as a consequence. If it arrives as a punishment it will be completed as one. It is a reflection tool and young people can tell the difference immediately.
- Start with the invented situations. Sections one to three are about other people. A young person who has reasoned well about a stranger is better placed to reason about themselves.
- Let them pick the choice they reflect on. Section four says “a choice you wish you could change”. If you choose it for them, you are having a different conversation.
- Draw the ripple, do not explain it. Watching someone work out for themselves who else was affected is worth more than being told.
- Finish on the closing line. “I can learn. I can do better next time.” After a difficult session, ending on repair rather than fault matters.
Insight is not the same as change, and a well-completed sheet is not evidence of reduced risk. Weigh it with everything else you know.
What is on the sheet
- What happened next? — three situations to think through
- Choice pathways — following a choice to its outcome
- Consequence matching
- Better choices reflection — a choice they would change
- Ripple effect — how one choice reaches other people
Forty-nine worksheets, all free
Built in practice by a working social worker, for children, young people and the people around them. New sheets are added as they are needed.
See the full libraryFree worksheet
Where shall I send the next one?
The worksheets are free, and always will be. Leave your email and I’ll send you each new one as it’s added — direct work tools, and the occasional idea from practice. Nothing else, ever.
One list. New worksheets only. Unsubscribe any time.