Are you tired of your child relying on you to solve their problems? Do you want to raise a child who can think for themselves and make sound decisions? Then it’s time to start building their critical thinking skills. However, as important as critical thinking skills are, they are not always easy to develop. There are several common obstacles that parents generally face when trying to teach critical thinking skills to kids. But don’t worry; we’ve got you covered!
In this blog, we at Excelsior American School, recognized as one of the best schools in Gurgaon, will shed light on the most common obstacles that parents worldwide have been facing when trying to build critical thinking skills in their kids and will also provide practical tips and tricks to overcome them. So, let’s dive in.
- Indecisiveness:
Let us assume you take your child to a toy or game store. Now it is common for children to bump into an array of toys and games that they find appealing. However, you’d want them only to pick one toy/game.
Now children who are indecisive will not know what exactly it is that they want. Quite possible, they will be stubborn and ask for more than one toy. Indecisive behavior usually comes from the inability to think critically.
Here, we at Excelsior American School would like to recommend you to make sure that you let your children make decisions on a routine basis. No matter if the decision-making is about a minor thing, like what dress to wear or what to eat for the evening snacks. Once they become confident to make day-to-day decisions, they will also learn to decide seamlessly under tough situations.
- Lack of Observational Skills:
Believe it or not, observational learning forms a major part of children’s learning exercise. This is because what children cannot learn from the classroom and experiential learning is learned merely by becoming good observers.
Observation abilities help to tap into children’s visual senses, which makes memory retention easier. However, the problem lies in equating observations with distractions. This is something that faculty members at Excelsior American School deal with by giving leverage to observational liberty and working closely with children. Observations make children think, derive and conclude, which is why we cannot but overlook the significance of observational skills.
- Inability to Reflect:
It is important for each one of us to understand the importance of reflections. The ability to reflect comes from one’s ability to be an efficient critical thinker. The importance of reflection lies in the fact that it allows you to differentiate between the good and the bad, the right and the wrong, which is most definitely a prerequisite in shaping a strong future for children.
At Excelsior American School, we understand that reflections work best when performed at an individual level. This is not a group activity where the teacher can sit with all the students and make them reflect collectively. It is safe to state that individualized attention plays a key role in getting children to reflect and eventually sharpen their critical thinking abilities, something that we as a school are responsibly approaching and dealing with.
- Need to Master Explanations:
If there’s one thing that children should be raised to master, it is their ability to make a say, voice their opinions, and give a valid explanation where necessary. However, children who have been extensively under their parent’s influence with no say of their own are difficult to come forward and express themselves in the future.
Here again, the importance of critical thinking abilities gets highlighted. When children find themselves in a challenging situation where they may be blamed for the bigger problem, it is their ability to put their critical thinking abilities into play and put forth the explanations that actually help them come out clean. Mind you, we ain’t referring to a one-off situation but something that is likely to show up multiple times in a child’s growing-up years and beyond.
Summing Up:
A quick glance through the above blog should help you understand the importance of critical thinking abilities. You must have also realized that in the race of scoring well and earning well, the importance of life skills, such as the ability to think critically, often goes unnoticed.
At Excelsior American School, we believe that academic performance is definitely important, but it is not everything. Children may score excellent grades, but if they are unable to think critically, they will find it difficult to come out as winners through dicey situations and taxing challenges that life throws at them. Owing to the same, as a responsible educational institute and one of the leading schools in Gurgaon, we work closely with our students and help them master critical thinking abilities such as observation, analysis, interpretation, reflection, evaluation, inference, explanation, problem-solving, and decision making.
When children grow up, these abilities help them to bag their dream job roles and make important career decisions. However, the key lies in sowing the seeds early on. Hope you got the point!
