How early should you start teaching your kids to think critically? In my opinion, it is never too early. The fundamentals of critical 
thinking, recognizing assumptions, removing emotional bias, evaluating arguments, solving problems, and making decisions are so valuable that we should make an effort to teach our children how to think better every single day.
For a fun family activity, hold a dinner time debate. Assign each child a position, and ask them to find reasons to defend it. Then, once each child has made a strong case, reverse the positions and ask the child to argue against what they just supported. This will help your child learn to brainstorm different points of view and build open mindedness.
Here are a few fun debate topics for children:
- Who would win in a slam dunk contest, Spiderman or Superman?
- Which meal is healthier, tacos or pizza?
- What would be the best super power? Invisibility or Flying?
- Which is a better purchase- Candy or Silly Bandz?
- Who would be a better best friend- Barbie or Hello Kitty?
- Who would be the best tour guide- Spongebob Squarepants or Dora the Explorer?
- Which class is most interesting- History or Science?
The more fun or outrageous the topic, the more creative and engaged your children will become in their debate.
What other debates would you use to teach your children critical thinking skills?
Editor’s Note: Breanne Harris is the Solutions Architect for Pearson TalentLens. She works with customers to design selection and development plans that incorporate critical thinking assessments and training. She has a Master’s degree in Organizational Psychology and has experience in recruiting, training, and HR consulting. She is the chief blogger for Critical Thinkers and occasionally posts at ThinkWatson. Connect with her on LinkedIn and Twitter for more of her thoughts.
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My wife and I talk around the dinner table with our 11-year old about critical thinking. We talk about the traps there are and how they manifest themselves.
It’s easy when you have an extended family (though not us) that indulges in all sorts of cable news. Our recent term to discuss has been ‘confirmation bias’ and how all of us fall victim to this. The abstract stuff is fun once and a while, but we actually try to explain how and why there are political arguments in the family.
For instance, people X have their own take on the world. They have a tendency to only regard Y facts. Why is this? What from their past has caused this? Etc.
The idea is that by being honest about our conceptual shortcomings, we can better address the root causes of shoddy thinking. It’s not your conclusions that matter, it’s how you get there.
We know it’s probably overwhelming to some degree, but we keep it fun, and don’t chastise others. We just want our boy to know that regardless of the conclusions, we are all sort of defending our egos. In this way, rather than cultivating anger for some ‘other side’ we hope he can try to ‘understand’ it instead.
More power to you, Matt! It’s extraordinary to know that there is an 11 yer old who understands the nature of ego-centric thinking!