children, parenting, familyI found this great post about what to teach children about other people’s beliefs. I really like the section on critical thinking, especially the bit beginning “If I told you that I have a dollar in my pocket, you’d probably just believe me, right?”.
What other examples might you present to a child to promote critical thinking?
It is difficult to deal with these situations without teaching the kid not to trust anyone. You don’t want to turn him into a cynic, but you do want them to question things that don’t make sense.
What I do when he reports things back to me that he has heard (like “God made everything and is invisible”) is ask him if that makes sense to him. Usually it doesn’t, and then we talk about how people make up stories sometimes that are fun to read or listen to, but aren’t real. Cartoons are a good vehicle for that - they can see that things happen in cartoons that aren’t real, and you can use that to demonstrate the difference between entertainment and reality. Religion is just another thing that they will come across that doesn’t make sense, but is a good story. Learning to recognize the difference between reality and a good story is a fundamental aspect of critical thinking.
Great question. Watch Brian Dunning’s “here be dragons” it is a free educational tool to teach critical thinking.
http://herebedragonsmovie.com/
however is this an Atheist question?
Why? That’s what you do, you always ask them why. Then take the time to listen and ask more questions. If you want to teach your children to think critically, demand it from them. Point out silly arguments and demand better ones. When they make a request, demand they give well thought out reasons as to why you should comply. Refuse requests and be irrational, forcing them to challenge you to see reasonableness. When they have provided rational reasons why your wrong, concede the point. This will build confidence and develop thinking skills. It’s great to be the one that instigates arguments, there always going to crop up, better to control them. A lot fewer petty arguments will take place and it gives a child an environment to grow. Talk to them about problems, give them your conflicting choices and ask them what they think, ask them why they think that. You will be amazed at the answers you get.
You also have to demand it of yourself as well. They will learn to be think critically, by how critically thinking you are.
I use television advertising as a starting point for critical thinking. The kids are seeing it, and it doesn’t take too long for an absolutely outrageous “truth claim” to come on screen. Then I’ll either talk through it, or go do an experiment to counter the claim. Sometimes, if the product is cheap enough, I’ll buy it and let them see if it does what was claimed in the ad. I love the look on their face when they say, “Dad, this thing stinks. It doesn’t do ANY of the things they showed on TV.”
This particular example (TV) is a great place to introduce the idea that people who are trying to persuade you to act when THEY have a financial interest, MIGHT be less inclined to tell you the whole truth. YOUR goal is to get a cool toy. THEIR goal is to get money out of your pocket and into theirs.
Next down the road is to help them tease out when people have a financial interest in a relationship with you.
Age appropriate words, of course… YMMV.
The bottom line from this is to reinforce this thought: Your life is going to be a non-stop stream of people trying to convince you to do things. You are responsible for making good choices. You need to develop the skills to assess how true the claims are and how they fit into the rest of what you know.
Yes, assuming the worst about people and their motivations is a bad place to start from, so I am not promoting a full-on cynicism. But being a Pollyanna or Pangloss, who believes “everything is right in this best of all possible worlds” is a recipe for being taken by charlatans, hucksters, frauds and preachers.
Critical thinking does not equal cynicism. Blind trust is just as bad as blind faith, and I think both are worse than being a bit skeptical/cynical.
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