Teaching Your Child Critical Thinking Skills

Critical thinking skills are basically what enable us to make reasonable and knowledgeable decisions, by analysing a situation and the factors that control it. For example, when faced with an obstacle, do we build a ladder to climb over it, burrow straight through or dig a tunnel underneath? Our critical thinking skills would allow us to determine which of these methods would be most efficient and successful. So, with that said, helping your child develop critical thinking skills will equip them with the necessary tolls to solve problems and make sensible decisions. Fortunately, every day there are opportunities all around us that will allow your child to learn and practise their critical thinking skills, with encouragement from you, of course. Here’s some advice from a prep school in the South West.

Start by encouraging your child to experience new things on a regular basis as a way of sparking their inquisitive nature. It’s especially important to focus on pushing your child to pursue their interests, because the more passionate they are about something, the more likely they will want to find out more and eventually form their own opinions. They will start to research, which is necessary for critical thinking because it will allow your child to find evidence to help them make sensible judgement calls. You should also ask your child plenty of open-ended questions to further promote their curiosity. Asking them questions will encourage them to think outside the box, while also making them feel like you are truly interested in their opinions. 

When explaining a new concept to your child, try to break it down so that it’s a simple as possible. Sometimes children (and even adults) can misinterpret information if it hasn’t been explained in uncomplicated terms. Once they understand what you’re trying to teach them, they will have a solid base for thinking critically. When they come to a certain conclusion about something, ask them why. This will help them understand that it’s perfectly okay to have opinions about things, as long as they can be backed up with an explanation or some evidence.

Be sure to take a step back and let your child independently solve problems and experiment. They need to learn cause and effect and if you jump in and give them all the answers every time, they will never know which actions or decisions lead to which outcomes or consequences. They need to map out their own route to self-guidance, because you’re not always going to be there to hold their hand.