Happy and Successful Kids Lifeskill 5: Critical Thinking

By definition critical thinking is “an ongoing search for valid and reliable knowledge to guide our beliefs, decisions and actions.” This kind of thinking has always been important, but may be more important today in our fast-paced world. What do you believe? How do you solve problems? What does your family value?

Critical thinking relies on all the other lifeskills. It takes focus to define an issue and consider solutions. It takes perspective taking to know how our solutions affect others and we need good communication skills to convey our reasoning to others. Critical thinking is like reflection—we’re analyzing, reasoning, planning and evaluating. It’s a very important skill.

The line between reality and fantasy is often blurred in young children. They can be led to believe things that can’t possibly be true. They can believe tall tales or that a giant is hiding under the bed. It’s important for them to begin to analyze information, make predictions and ask questions to make sense of their world. They then test their theories, learn from the adults in their lives and learn to know truth through experience.

How to Promote Critical Thinking

  • Observe your child’s efforts to understand the world. Support learning through discussion, stories and actions.
  • Support your child’s natural curiosity. Allow exploration and then supply answers.
  • Promote your child’s passions. If she wants to learn about bugs, give her all the books, field guides, and nature walks she can handle. That’s true motivation.
  • Be willing to “be the expert” and look up answers to your child’s questions.
  • Point your child to trusted experts. Friends, family members, teachers, coaches, all can be mentors.
  • Help your child evaluate information. “Do you think that was right?” “Was John telling the truth?” “Let’s look that up to see if we’re right.”
  • Evaluate television programming, movies and other media. “What are they selling in that commercial?” “Our family doesn’t choose to watch shows that…”
  • When problems arise, teach a method that builds critical thinking such as:
  1. What is the problem or issue?
  2. What is the goal?
  3. What are the possible solutions?
  4. Let’s choose one solution to try.
  5. Did that work?

There are many real-life opportunities to use a problem-solving method that identifies the problem and works toward a solution. Children need to learn to problem-solve, first with your support and later on their own.