Get Your Child Thinking

A great gift we can give our children is the gift of good thinking skills.  One of the best and quickest ways to start giving them this gift is to get in the habit of asking them questions.  They will become better thinkers the more questions we ask.

To help create a healthy environment for your children, consider making some of these questions a matter of habit:

“I don’t know. What do you think?”

“Are you sure that’s the best idea?”

“How do you think that’s going to work out for you?”

“Do you think that’s going to work out well or ________?”

“What do you think you are going to do?”

“Do you have enough money to pay for any possible damage?”

“Is that a wise decision?”

Asking questions isn’t only for the sake of receiving an answer, but developing the thought process and circumventing a power struggle. The human brain is always searching for closure.  If we ask our children questions, they will be so occupied thinking of an answer that they won’t have energy to enter into a power-struggle with us. Bottom line, the more questions we ask the better thinkers our children become and the fewer power-struggles we will have. Win-Win!

photo credit: theloushe via photopin cc