By Bob Kisiki
Paula was unwell. She could barely get herself off the bed, yet she needed medicine. So she sent her daughter, 16, to a pharmacy near her home to get the drugs. Since she did not have cash on her, she told the girl to go withdraw money off her phone, before buying the drugs. When the girl got there, instead of getting the amount she had been asked to withdraw, she asked the mobile money agent to withdraw all the money on the account.
Many reasons can be cited for this kind of action, none of which is positive. Whether you want to attribute it to hormonal activity, a stark lack of attention, poor mathematics or whatever else, something about this girl tells you that she does not have critical thinking skills.
Why critical thinking? Because should you be in a situation where you are not sure of what step to take; where you doubt that what you are doing might not be the right thing, your saving grace is in having the capacity to rationally look at the situation and deducing that a given path is the right one for you to take.
In this scenario, for instance, if this 16-year-old had felt that she might be doing the wrong thing (something different from what her mother had instructed her to do), she would have called home to verify the information she needed. She did not. She could not! A child who lacks critical thinking skills cannot get herself out of a tight situation. Surrounded by circumstances that threaten her peace, progress or even life, she would be as endangered as any prey in the paws of a predator. She will see the danger she is in but, instead of this danger stimulating her survival instincts, it will merely trigger her adrenaline, which will ultimately do nothing to save her. Adrenaline produces panic and fear; two agents that paralyse one.
Give your children activities that elicit creative thinking, from as early as before they turn one year. Create circumstances where the child has to make deductions; find a way out of danger; find a solution to a puzzling situation.
Read a story to them and then ask questions that go beyond mere yes or no; or that seek simple explanations. Create a scenario where the family is in need, and ask the child how they can fi x the dilemma for the family. For example, you could say the only food available has gone bad. You don’t have money to buy more. What do you do for the family to have a meal? If they come up with a logical solution, they are well on their way to cultivating critical thinking skills; but if they do not, then you need to help them more.
It is a harsh world all around us. In the past we used to say “a harsh world out there”, but now it is no longer out there. It is right around us. Only children who can manoeuvre their way around situations can survive. The rest will be devoured by the system.
Consequences
A child who lacks critical thinking skills cannot get herself out of a tight situation. Surrounded by circumstances that threaten her peace, progress or even life, she would be as endangered as any prey in the paws of a predator.
Action
Give your children activities that elicit creative thinking, from as early as before they turn one year.
The writer is a parenting counsellor and teacher
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