Strengthen Your Child’s Critical Thinking

Photo by Leo Rivas on Unsplash

There is one thing that distinguishes a winner more than anything else: critical thinking. If your child can learn to separate lies and incomplete information, to understand their environment and the people around them, to analyse an argument and make a statement logically, they could well succeed in most jobs and projects in their life.

One way of sharpening this vital skill is to teach your child to debate at home. Here is how you can raise a little debater and, at the same time, boost their thinking capacity.

Why Debates?

Debating isn’t just for politicians and college students. It’s a vigorous exercise in active listening, structured thinking and persuasive speech.

Debates force children to grapple with other perspectives and construct reasoned arguments, skills they will need to survive in both school and life.

Getting Started: The Basics

1. Select the Topic: Start with easier topics for primary ages that students are familiar with. For instance: ‘Should pets be allowed in school?’, or ‘Is social media good for teenagers?’

2. Create the Rules: Set a level playing field for the debate: each person should get X minutes or X bullets worth of speech before they have to yield — then X…