siliconindia | | May 20199· Encourage children to ask questions: Children are inquisi-tive and have a lot of questions. At times, when parents and teachers do not have answers to their questions, they are discouraged from asking any. This makes the child believe the questions they are asking are irrel-evant and they accept everything at face value. As parents and teachers, we should encourage children to ask why. They should question every-thing they come across.· Answer each question asked in class: As a teacher, just encourag-ing children to ask questions is not enough. You need to make sure you answer those questions. In case you do not know the answer at the mo-ment, go back and find-out, but make sure you answer the question. A child needs to feel that each question they ask is important. Otherwise, they will stop asking why?· Make children find the an-swers to their own questions: It is a good idea to make children go look for their own answers. You can act as a catalyst and guide them on where they will find the answers. But let them do the self-study. Children need to be able to go look for their own answers and feel elated about it.· Introduce Situational Role-plays: Situational role plays put children in other people's shoes. Dif-ferent people react differently in the same situation, helping them analyze each outcome is just as important. Put them in life-changing situations and give them options they would choose from if they were actually in there and let them justify. Then ask them to reason why they did not pick any other option. Let them independently think; but guide them in the right di-rection if need be after the exercise. Our job as parents and teachers is that of rudders on a ship. We are here only to stir children in the right direction as and when required.· Allow children to make deci-sions: When you allow children to lead their ship independently, you are making them responsible for their ac-tions. So, before each step they take, they will analyze each decision, weigh the consequence, and then decide the direction in which they want to move. Defining consequences for each action is important.While encouraging children to think critically, parents and teachers need to make sure they keep these five points in mind. The Foundation for Critical Thinking has developed five `Intellectual Standards' ­ Be Clear, Be Accurate, Be Relevant, Be Logi-cal, and Be Fair ­ which are ways you can encourage your children to learn to think more critically.The most important thing to keep in mind is that dealing with children requires a lot of patience. They might go wrong sometimes; they may ask too many questions, they will take decisions in haste. However, as their guides, we need to be very patient with them and keep holding their hand till they learn to take-off and fly. When you allow children to lead their ship independently, you are making them responsible for their actions
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