Critical thinking is one of the four Cs of 21st-century education and the essential cognitive skills a child can develop. If you want your child to develop the logical skills and discipline to solve problems and invent new things, start helping them to develop their critical thinking ability. This will help them prepare for the future ahead. We live in a world of automation; we can already see new inventions and advancements in technology every day. These are products of interrogation, curiosity, and critical thinking that drive development today and are skills that will continue to be relevant in years to come. 

Do you think your child ask way too many questions and are now overwhelming? This is evidence that children are natural inquirers or, if you like, scientists by default. My Nine-year-old questions everything. Why doesn’t the moon show up today? Why is it so sunny this early morning? Where do dead people go to? The funny thing is, he wants an answer to all these questions from me. While it can be overwhelming, I have learned to accommodate the questions and try to answer the ones I could answer and get him to google the rest and come back to tell me his findings. Good right? 

Asking tons of questions is your child’s way of demonstrating their curiosity and putting their critical thinking skills into practice which in turn help them to solve problems. 

How to Develop your Child’s Critical Thinking 

Encourage Their Curiosity and Ask Them to Open Up 

While it is understandable to get tired of those overwhelming everyday questions, start trying to accommodate and encourage them to ask more questions. To help your child develop critical thinking skills, get into the habit of questioning their questions. Try to get them to think about their questions and tell you what they think is the answer. As they brainstorm, it helps their ability to think independently. The solution does not have to be correct, and you can invest time in finding solutions together. This will help them a lot and pay off eventually 

Don’t Always Demand Obedience

Ben Carson once said we don’t necessarily have to abide by strict rules provided we can find other ways that work and doesn’t hurt anyone. When you always set rules and orders and ask kids to follow blindly can easily discourage critical thinking development​. Some flexibility will help – for instance, you can say, ‘It’s great to do it this way but let me know what you think or if there is any other way to solve this. In a situation when its best to obey for their good, it is better to explain why we want them to do it the way we ask them to

Encourage Open-Mindedness

Help kids learn fairness, inclusiveness, and diversity. Teach them they must see things beyond their perspectives and with an open mind. When doing this, they must learn to put their judgements and assumptions aside and embrace other’s point of view, alternative explanations or different approach or solution to a problem

Ask Open-ended Questions Often

Open-ended questions will help kids engage in a few moments of thinking through their choice and action, especially as they relate to the problem. You can do this by asking them questions about what’s happening and ask them what they think can be done. For instance, what would you do in this situation? what would happen if…? How would you fix this? What can we do differently? 

Try to avoid helicopter parenting or hovering around your child

We all have that natural urge as parents to want to interfere or help fix everything for our child, especially when it looks like the child is not doing it as expected. We try to prevent them from making mistakes and filling their cups. This is you always hovering around your children like a helicopter, always ready to help them make a decision. This will steal their opportunity to develop the skills and ability to think independently and create a sense of dependence in them. Rather than engaging their thought process to think through problems and find solutions, they would wait to be spoon-fed. You do not want to do this, do you? 

Are you stuck in the web of overparenting ? See our article on overparenting and see why you need to stop now