One of the most vital life skills for children is the ability to think critically. Additionally, it is a crucial 21st-century skill. It helps them discover how to follow the right procedures in the right way to arrive at the right solution. Drills, memorization, and homework dominate classrooms rather than teaching students to think.
It is up to us parents to supplement our children’s education with critical thinking examples and teaching in everyday life. Let’s look at how we can help our little ones become critical thinkers.
1. Encouraging children to ask questions
Children are naturally curious, and their curiosity should be nurtured. If they do ask a question, make sure the answer is polite and encourages them to ask more questions. The responses must make them inquisitive and push them to look for the solutions on their own.
2. Asking them to consider alternative solutions to situations
Coming up with alternatives to scenarios helps activate their brain and analyse situations before coming to conclusions. This will help them understand that not every question has just one distinct answer and will give them the ability to consider other possibilities.
3. Practising making choices
Like everything in life, your child will often learn through the process of trial and error. And, part of learning to be a critical thinker involves making decisions by themselves. Giving your child a say in how they want to spend their time is one way to get them thinking about and making decisions.
4. Giving them opportunities to be independent
Because you can complete a task more quickly, it can be incredibly simple to assist children. However, if you give them the chance to be independent, they'll develop confidence and self-assurance on their own.
5. Encourage Open-Mindedness
Although teaching open-mindedness can be a challenging concept at first, it is an important one. Part of becoming a critical thinker is having the ability to be objective in one’s approach and evaluate ideas without any bias. Teach your children that in order to look at things with an open mind, they need to leave their own judgments and assumptions aside. Some concepts you should be talking about that encourage open-mindedness include inclusiveness, diversity and fairness.
