Monday 19 March 2012

Encourage Thinking Through Making Choices

This post, I have decided to look at how making choices in our daily lives facilitates thinking and how allowing children to make informed choices about what they enjoy or desire might encourage thinking. 

However, first we have to understand why we think. We think because the result or outcome is meaningful to us. As we get older, the opportunities for us to think increase. We no longer and should not rely on our parents to think for us. To be independent, we have to initiate thinking.

So, how do we encourage thinking? We could do so through everyday events and activities. For example, during art and craft, instead of listing out the things that you want the child to draw, read out a scenerio for the child to think of what could be drawn. For example, instead of saying to the child, "Draw a sun, a boy and a dog", we could say, "It is a sunny day. A boy is bringing his dog out for a walk in the park".  Instead of telling the child what colours to give to the pictures, ask the child to choose what he or she wants the colours to be. It doesn't matter if the sun is green or the trees are black. It is about being encouraged to taking the initiative to make a choice on his or her own.

Thus, making choices is a great avenue to encourage thinking. Life is all about choices -what to eat, what movies to watch, what activities to engage in, when to take a shower, ETC - and this is also why life is all about thinking as well. Simply put, to make a choice, we have to think. Our days are made up of many minor events linked together to make meaning. We wake up, brush our teeth, go to work, get off work, meet our friends, go home, take a shower, brush our teeth then go to bed - all little events linked up together to make a day meaningful. This is why choices are so important because they motivate us to think so as to move our daily life forward.
Making choices does not just involve choosing the things that are available within sight, they are also things that are not within reach at the moment or more abstract concept such as activities not carried out yet but could be if we choose to do them. Encourage or teach your child to make a choice by not offering what are available within sight -

Adult: What do you want to do now? (If child is having difficulty knowing what options are available, suggest, "Do you want to play, eat, read, drink...?)

Child: I want to eat.

Adult: What do you want to eat?

Child: Hmm...

Adult: Come on, think. What do you want to eat? (Offer options verbally if child is really having difficulty).

Child: Potato chips!

Adult: Good! What flavour? We have ....

Child: Barbeque!

Of course, the child must have tasted barbeque flavoured chips before to make an informed choice. It is no use getting a kid to choose the flavour of chips when he or she does not know what flavour means. This brings us to the importance of exposing our children to new experiences. To make choices that we really want, we have to have the information. Without information, we are just making choices for the sake of making them. That will impede thinking. Information allows us to think and then to make choices. With no information, there is no thinking and with no thinking, there is not choice making and even if there is, the choice has no meaning to the child and thus, the event has no meaning to him or her.

And how do we encourage a non verbal child or a verbal child who lacks the capacity to communicate effectively with speech to make a choice from a selection that is not presented before him or her? A communication book with pictures or word cards of what he or she likes and know about may be helpful in allowing him or her to express his or her wants. As above, the child has to be exposed to as much information as possible to make a meaningful choice.

Thus, essentially this post's discussion will bring us to the next topic of discussion - exposing your child to various experiences and information. If you have any prior questions or feedbacks regarding this next topic you need help in addressing to on the blog, please do not hesitate to contact me at davensim@triumphantkids.com. Also, please do visit my wesite www.triumphantkids.com to find out more about the services that I provide.


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