Helping Your Child Become a Great Problem Solver*

*This is a collaborative post* 

 

 

Problem solving skills contribute in many ways towards how successful a person is in their career and in their personal life. It’s never too early to begin helping your child to become a great problem solver and not only that, but to relish the idea of solving problems of all kinds in their day-to-day life.

When and how to begin?

The good news is that the desire to solve problems is hard-wired into most children. The smallest baby of 6 months is already working hard to develop their problem-solving skills and you can see this as they attempt to stack bricks, repeatedly trying different techniques and learning what not to do as well as what to do.

Show don’t do

Resist the urge to take over your child’s activities in an effort to show them how it’s done.

Taking the tennis racquet away from a child who is learning to play will just frustrate them. Instead, demonstrate – show them the correct way and let them learn from watching.

Watch out for opportunities

Let’s imagine your child is trying to make a model out of Papier Mache. They become frustrated as one part won’t stick to another. Ask them questions designed to get them thinking rather than telling them what they are doing wrong. For example, “Why do you think it won’t stick?” should illicit a response – they may need to think very hard in order to come up with a useful answer but you should encourage them to approach the problem from their new ideas. “Maybe it’s too heavy” might be their response. In that case, rather than suggesting the part needs reinforcing, ask them again – “If it were too heavy, how might we solve that?”

It may feel a little like getting water out of a stone at times but the important thing to remember is that you’re showing your child how to ask the questions that matter. It’s this asking the right questions of ourselves which is at the core of critical thinking and problem solving.

This independent girls’ school in Northwood ensures it’s pupils are consistently challenged to think for themselves – this approach means that girls are never afraid to take a risk in their learning, understanding that experimentation leads to discovery.

 

 

*Photo source Pexels

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