Update: This article was last updated on 20th May 2024 to reflect the accuracy and up-to-date information on the page.
Every parent wishes the best for their child. More than anything, any parent wants their child to succeed in everything they do, right? As parents, you can do several things that could help them. Fostering critical thinking is one of those things.
“Thinking critically is like building a bridge from not knowing to understanding. It’s like having curiosity and using it to look closely at things, and then figuring them out with careful thinking.”
What Is Critical Thinking?
Critical thinking, put in simple words, is the ability to analyze the facts to form a judgment. There are several definitions on the internet as the subject, in itself, is quite complex.
Why teach critical thinking to your child?
Well, for one, it helps them analyze the options and make the right decision. They also learn to tackle its repercussions, good or bad; and eventually acquire problem-solving skills. For children to have a flexible mind and the ability to absorb new information, parents need to develop their critical thinking.
Children, by nature, are curious about everything around them. Hence, inculcating critical thinking can be easier. You could start with simple day-to-day decisions, for example, whether they want to read a storybook or watch their favorite cartoon show. It can’t be both.
The child has to pick one while fully being aware that they will lose out on the other option. You ask your child if they are facing any problems while deciding and let them come up with all the solutions. Let them pick the solution. The process of critical thinking will involve successes and failures. But that’s how the child will learn.
Here are some ways that help your child in critical thinking:
1. Encourage Curiosity
Let your child ask questions. Encourage them to ask questions about anything that draws their interest. Let them come up with a theory, or an answer, for the same. Ask them to select the best option out of all the solutions that they have come up with and why.
In short, questioning things around them or asking how something works will help them learn new things.
2. Patience
Don’t rush your child into making decisions or coming up with solutions. Remember, you want them to become a critical thinker. Hence, it is best to allow them to take their time and weigh all the pros and cons before coming up with the answer. Taking time means the child is pondering over the decision they have made and whether it is the right one.
3. Don’t Interfere Immediately
Even if you think that your child has chosen the wrong option or is not going in the right direction, do not interfere immediately. Don’t help them in the process of thinking or making a decision.
Let them make the decision based on their evaluation and then ask them questions as to why and how did they come up with that solution. Only after you have asked all the necessary questions, tell them that their decision or choice would have certain repercussions and explain what and why.
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4. Help Children Evaluate Information and Develop Hypotheses
Children absorb new information on a day-to-day basis. Not all information they get or hear is true, and we as adults are aware of that. Ask your child the source of information and why they think it is true or false and how it relates to what they already know. Teach them how to evaluate information and the importance of doing so to find out whether the information is true.
Similarly, forming hypotheses is going to help your child in critical thinking. Once they have selected an option, ask them questions like “What do you think will happen if we do this?” or “Let’s envisage what will happen if we do this?”
5. Ask Open-Ended Questions
To help your child think critically, it is best to ask them open-ended questions. This will help them come up with further evaluation of their decisions. Questions like “Why do you think that is the right choice?” or “What do you think will happen if we do that?” or “How would you solve this problem?” or “Are there more ways we can do this?” and so on.
6. Promote Children’s Interest
When children are deeply vested in a topic, pursuit, or object, they tend to start thinking about it in-depth. They become more invested, engaged, and willing to experiment. They want to learn more about it and explore it to expand their knowledge and this brings in a lot of opportunities for critical thinking. Whether your child is interested in cars, plants, a certain cartoon character, or animals, let them follow their passion, as that will help them learn more about the subject and instigate critical thinking in them.
Inculcating critical thinking is not a mammoth task. Indulge your little ones in everyday chores that require decision-making and problem-solving. Gradually they will pick it up.
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