Why is critical thinking important? How to encourage this ‘life skill’ in your child

Critical thinking is a valuable life skill which will help your child to analyse situations and information with more confidence, learning to not always take things at face value. It’s something we as adults practise daily, and so it’s an easy skill to teach as you go about your everyday activities.

“It’s being able to look at it and think about it and make your own judgment.” – Professor Vivien Hill, educational psychologist

Critical thinking involves learning how to assess information, analyse it and come to a conclusion about it.

For example, if your child and their friends are talking about a new TV series, your child can use their critical thinking skills to identify their friends’ different points of view, the list of arguments each person is making and then formulate their own opinion.

Your child can also apply this to most things, whether it’s educational work, choosing what brand of sports trainer to buy or deciding how or whether to confess to a misdemeanour!

According to chartered member of the British Psychological Society, Professor Vivian Hill: “It’s being more analytical and delving deeper into a situation or problem, deconstructing it, recognising all the diverse parts of it, and then deciding what to do and how to behave. In this world of fake news, the crazy stuff we sometimes hear on the media or [social media] platforms… it’s being able to look at it and think about it and make your own judgment.”

It’s not just about questioning social media or spotting fake news, it’s also about your child learning to act in what Professor Hill calls a more “prosocial” way: making informed decisions, considering other people’s needs or opinions as well as their own, practising active listening and using their creative thinking skills, something your child can learn to do whatever their ability.

Teach your child to think critically by following these steps:

1. Identify the problem or question you want to solve
2. Gather information
3. Consider what points of view are being put across
4. Analyse them and their sources of information (are they fact or opinion?)
5. Evaluate other points of view
6. Decide on your own point of view (sometimes called 'synthesising')
7. Communicate your conclusion
8. Reflect on what you've learned from the process.

Parenting coach and consultant Miranda Perry says consumer environments are great for practising critical thinking. “Take your child to the supermarket and ask them to choose toothpaste… ‘What does it mean when it says ‘56% of people like it’? 56% of who? What does ‘like’ mean?’ As a parent, all you have to do is just keep questioning until their questions reach an end.”

Using the steps above, if your child wants to buy a new remote control car ask them questions such as:

• What kind of car do you want to buy?
• What do you want it to do?
• How much do you want to spend?

Once they’ve got those answers, you can sit with them as they gather information based on those criteria, for example: setting search options by maximum price, etc.

Once they have a list of potential cars, discuss who’s selling them, what your child thinks of what’s written on the website, how they know whether they can trust the information. You can also look at reviews and talk about why those people might be posting them.

Then ask your child what they think the best car option is and why. Offer them your opinion too before they make a purchase.

Once they’ve received the remote control car and played with it, ask them if they think they made the right choice, and if they’d do anything differently next time.

There are some simple ways you can improve critical thinking in your child:

• Have 'curious conversations'
• Practice with everyday scenarios
• Role model your own critical thinking processes

Parenting coach and author Anita Cleare says: “Encourage your child to look at issues through the perspectives of different people. Prompt them to think like a detective or a journalist or a scientist, or someone who needs to check facts carefully – what would they want to know?"

"For example, you could say ‘Imagine you’re the buyer for a top department store. Your job is to find the best family board game to stock in your shop. What questions would you need to ask to find the best game? Who would you need to talk to?’"

“Encourage older children and teens to interrogate content they see or read by asking why certain choices were made. For example, ‘Why do you think they chose to take the photograph from that angle?’. If they find that difficult, try putting an alternative viewpoint. Say ‘Some people might say that’s sexist. What would you say in response?’”

Parenting coach and consultant Michael Whitworth also advises talking through the critical thinking you’re naturally doing every day, whether that’s deciding what bread to buy or how to respond to a tricky neighbour.

Talk your child through the process of weighing up the information, analysing it and coming to a decision. He also recommends talking through things that don’t go well - for example, if your child bought something because their friends had it but it turns out it’s not that great after all.

Anita Cleare adds: “When you’re reading books together with younger children, stop and talk about the characters and why they’re thinking or feeling a certain way."

With older children: “Looking at influencer videos on social media is a great conversation starter, especially where these relate to your teen’s passions. If you watch reality TV shows together… you can discuss the editing choices and how these impact how we perceive certain characters.”

There are countless opportunities throughout your interactions with your children, and your own day-to-day decision-making, to role model your process and discuss critical thinking with your child.

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For more information about home education, these BBC News articles cover the rise in families deciding to educate their children at home and, from 2021, the impact of Covid on home education.