Don't present problems, present solutions.

This bit of advice came from my first manager at my first job right out of college.  I was hired as a marketing representative at IBM in the Data Processing Division.  My manager brought me into his office and suggested this bit of advice.  He said that if anything went wrong in an account,  I was expected to come to him presenting what the problem was, and then giving him three potential solutions.  And he expected me to have thought out those solutions and to let him know which one I would recommend.  What did that teach me?  To not just "react" and run to the boss.  I had to think out what the problem was, and to work on figuring out the solutions myself.  Because of him,  I now think of myself as a "problem solver", and that was not good in raising children.  I haven't always allowed my girls to solve their own problems, and that was a mistake.  i should have stopped them when presenting a problem,  and told them to state the problem and to give me three possible solutions.  Of course 1-2 of them might be totally unacceptable, but that is okay.  It would have taught them to think things through before running to mom or dad.  Hopefully, they will not allow their children to come to them with only problems, but with potential solutions.  It makes for a much more optimistic personality and an independent adult.