Helping Your Child Develop Critical Thinking Skills

Critical thinking is a higher-level thinking skill which children need to evaluate their choices and make good decisions. It involves a variety of other skills such as problem-solving, creativity and forward-thinking. In this blog post, we share tips from a boarding school in London that parents can use to help children in this area.

Present Alternatives

There are lots of ways to go about doing things. Each has its own pros and cons that your child will need to think about. Presenting alternative viewpoints to children can open their minds to this way of thinking and show them that there are other options out there. You can guide them with their critical thinking by asking “what if” questions and encouraging them to think on a deeper level.

Stop and Wait

To engage in higher-level thinking children mustn’t feel rushed. When asking them a question or waiting for them to do something try to be patient as this will give them the time to think and weigh up different factors in their head.

Making Decisions

Decisions need to be made on a daily basis, like what to have for breakfast and wear for example. Giving your child the opportunity to be a part of the decision-making process and think for themselves will exercise their critical thinking skills and help them to thus improve.

Experimental Play

Also, give your child the freedom to explore their own ideas and experiment. It gets children to look ahead and think about the possibilities of what might happen. This will develop their forward-thinking skills and thus their critical thinking ability.