I haven’t posted any parenting advice lately so I thought I’d pass on this little snippet of great insight from my favorite parenting site, Love and Logic.
At Love and Logic® we believe that kids are best prepared for the real world when we allow them to do as much thinking as possible. It’s good practice for the real world, and it keeps the monkey off of our backs most of the time.
Here’s the problem. Do you know kids who like to keep adults doing all of the thinking? Do you know kids who are good at tricking us into doing so?
How do we avoid falling into this trap?
One strategy involves using plenty of questions!
The more questions we ask,
the better thinkers our kids will become.
People who understand Love and Logic also understand that the human brain seeks closure. When we use plenty of questions, children’s brains are so busy searching for closure that they have less energy left over for power-struggles.
The more questions we ask,
the fewer power-struggles we will have.
Kids grow the healthiest and strongest brains when they’re fortunate to spend time around adults who say things like:
“I don’t know. What do you think?”
“Are you sure that’s the best idea?”
“How do you think that’s going to work out for you?”
“Would you like to hear what some other kids have tried?”
“Do you think that’s going to work out well or ________?”
“What do you think you are going to do?”
“Which one of these is the best solution to your problem?”
“Do you have enough money to pay for any possible damage?”
“Is that a wise decision?”
I love this advice. I love putting the questions back onto the kids and not draining myself over their problems.
Try it. You’ll like it. 🙂