Parents must help kids learn to assess, evaluate, and see relationships between events and ideas. Here are some things parents can do to boost thinking skills:

• Encourage children to ask questions about the world around them.

• Listen actively and respond seriously, but without judgement, to the questions they raise.

• When reading together, ask children to imagine what will happen next in the story.

• When kids express feelings, ask why they feel that way.

• Ask children to find facts to support their opinions.

• Use TV and other forms of entertainment as the basis of family discussions.

• Use daily activities as occasions for learning. Let children estimate cost and time and guess at how things work.

• Reward children for being curious and creative.

• Ask kids what questions their teachers are raising in class.
  

Copyright © Parent Institute