According to child psychologists and educators, the period of childhood before a child enters school is the most important for a child. Until the age of three, the child receives experience that is extremely important for determining his mindset, character and worldview. Critical thinking begins to develop from one and a half years old - so how can you help your baby to form it correctly?
All about critical thinking
Psychology considers critical thinking to be one of the most complex thought processes that allows you to analyze and interpret information received from the outside. Also, with the help of critical thinking, the preschooler begins to ask questions, being interested in the answer, makes arguments in defense of his opinion and draws logical conclusions.
A critically thinking child will always be able to argue his position based on the logic of the interlocutor.
It is necessary to develop this type of thinking in a child from childhood, answering all the "why" and "why" of the child. After all, it is his family who must explain to the kid the structure of the world, paying close attention to the child's desire to learn everything and everything. So he will be able to draw conclusions about the information received and form his attitude towards certain things.
If your child disagrees with you or his peers, try to carefully find out the reason for his stubbornness. If he is able to adequately argue his disagreement, then, despite his preschool age, his critical thinking level is quite high. Otherwise, the development of critical thinking is clearly inhibited, and you should help your child in this.
How to develop critical thinking
First of all, try to teach your baby to think logically - logic should be present in his statements from an early age. To do this, you need to express your judgments in the presence of the child, at the same time justifying them. Also, the development of critical thinking can take place as a game - invite the child to draw a conclusion after reading a fairy tale, compare objects and find their common features.
When arguing an opinion, reject the argument "I want it so" or "I like it so much" - this can distort the formation of critical thinking.
To develop critical thinking, teach him to doubt and not trust all the facts in a row. Be sure to encourage the child's curiosity so that he asks as many questions as possible - this way the child will greatly expand his horizons and in the future will grow up to be a more educated person.
Remember that the child should not learn to make hasty conclusions: let him first learn all the information, and then think about what to do with it. It will be nice if he begins to point out errors in your judgments - this means that the level of his critical thinking is developing by leaps and bounds. Do not be afraid of this, you just have a very smart child.
