As your child grows up, they will need to learn how to make good decisions and think on a deeper level about what they are told. For this they will need critical thinking skills. This is the ability to understand, evaluate and analyse information that’s available and make good judgement calls. In this post we share advice from an independent girls’ school on how you can help your child in this area.
Work On Their Creativity
High level thinking skills such as critical thinking rely on the ability to think creatively as we must brainstorm ideas and consider alternatives. To help children with their creativity there are various things you can do such as play games that allow them the freedom and flexibility to explore their imagination, and challenges that prompt their thinking.
There’s More Than One Way
To follow on from this point, it’s important they know that there is more than one way of going about things. It will help promote “outside of the box” thinking, their desire to look for even better ideas and their curiosity to learn more.
Give Them Options
You can simply help your child practise their critical thinking by presenting them different options to choose from. For example, when shopping you can ask for their input on what to buy, or what to have for tea. They will need to think of reasons for and against and make a logical choice.
Pocket Money
Pocket money is another way you can get your child used to making difficult decisions and thinking carefully about their choices. They will need to manage their weekly, or monthly, budget effectively in order to do the things they want, such as buying a new game etc. Start by teaching them how to save and creating a healthy relationship with money and see how they get on.
Identifying Pros and Cons
To make these decisions children must be able to think of potential pros and cons. They must use forward thinking to actually envision a situation unfolding and the possible outcomes that may arise. For example, by choosing to spend their pocket money all in one go on an expensive game, they may not be left with any money to buy sweets for the rest of the month.
Pause and Wait
When asking children questions, parents must also be considerate and allow their child ample time and space to think as otherwise they will not get the chance to think deeply and practise critical thinking. Instead, they will only be able to offer their initial thoughts and ideas.
Work On Building Their Confidence
Reassurance will go a long way in building a child’s confidence. To work through their indecisiveness, children must feel confident in their ability to make decisions as otherwise they will struggle to come to a conclusion on issues and trust their instincts.
Asking Questions
Questions allow us to learn more and get closer to the truth. Instead of taking what they hear at face value, you should encourage your child to ask questions and not be afraid to do so. Of course, they should think about the appropriateness of their questions to avoid causing offence, but generally you should push them to ask questions so that they can make well informed decisions. You can guide and nurture their curiosity by being receptive to questions they ask at home and opening them up to different ideas.
These are just a few ways in which parents can work on critical thinking skills with children. What’s equally as important is making sure to not over complicate matters and overwhelm your child.
Thank you for reading.
