Critical thinking and problem solving

avatar
(Edited)

img_0.10661948184788697.jpg

I'm pretty big on not being a helicopter parent as I believe it defeats the purpose of parenting and can impact kids learning and development. It also provides a false sense of security in that a child will not think outside or try to resolve the problem at hand as someone else will do it at times I wonder if I am too hands off but I do do alot to help and guide the little ones. I know at times they get frustrated but that is part of the learning. Learn to control your emotions, focus on the task at hand and come up with a solution to resolve it.

In life people aren't always going to be around to help and alot of things in life you will he required to address yourself.

img_0.16251527283063394.jpg

Lil Miss decided that she wanted a swimming pool for her toys to play in and wanted a beach setting. She removed two tubs from her play room (made a mess no doubt, still struggling to get her to clean her room) one she loaded with sand. The other she went to fill with water to be the pool.

My initial thought was crap, she's going to flood the place but I let her go with this one as it provided a great learning experience around liquid, solid, motion, weight and volumn.

img_0.4500912710441845.jpg

I stood and watched and waited for the inevitable, a tub that was too filled that she couldn't lift, the angle of it that wouldn't allow her to fill properly and the the hardship of trying to remove it from the sink. I watched her for some time and she turned to me and said "daddy can you get it for me I responded with nope, if you want to do that you need to do it yourself.

I watched as she walked around it, looked at it and assessed the task at hand. I asked her Do you think it's too heavy for you to lift? she agreed and said it would be easier if I got it.

img_0.9023746038603079.jpg

It didn't take long for her to realise that she needed to remove some water to even the balance as she had tried to lift it a few times only to cause it to empty entirely. She sighed a few times and asked again Can't you just do it daddy? I responded but how will you learn if I did it for you? She couldn't figure out how much water was in it so placed it on the floor to gauge how much she had. She was happy with it but also realising that she didn't originally hold it in the right position caused it to tip.

img_0.0013988989066774662.jpg

Walking slowly and holding the tub steady she managed to provide a balanced position in order not to tip the water out as she did the first time. But she managed to walk a whole 6 meters to the room where she had her beach set up.

img_0.02840852049926061.jpg

She was pretty excited to be able to pull off the great exercise and from it would have gained alot of skills in regards to problem solving and learning about liquids and solids. She got abit wet, the house got abit wet but she took away a big learning from solids being sand and liquid being the water. How they act differently and their weight to volume ratio.

Kids learn best through play and I have really enjoyed watching lil miss learn. It has created alot of challenges in parenting where she is able to use her problem solving skills and critical thinking to get around the rules I set up. Perhaps one day I will write a post about it but it really pays off taking a hands of stance when teaching kids.

What are some of the activities or techniques you use when helping teach your kids?



0
0
0.000
21 comments
avatar

I like it on how she was able to figure out herself that she needed to remove some water to even the balance and then walking slowly not to spill the water.

0
0
0.000
avatar

Hahaha yeah, she was totally peed off at me that I wouldn't help her. She wanted more water in the tub then she ended up with. But it was all apart of the learning experience

0
0
0.000
avatar

Good job, dad.

Giving them just enough slack so that they can learn, but not enough so that they get really hurt.

0
0
0.000
avatar

Thank you, I try. There has been a few occasions where hurt has been involved but nothing major.

0
0
0.000
avatar

Really cool what you did. I would have given in. Give her my love. Do include the education tag too. I think it still has a presence here on Hive.

0
0
0.000
avatar

20210428_171436.jpg

Oh we've escalated since yesterday, this is my side yard :( ah she's having fun and learning. I been working all day no idea what she was up to. Walk out and I'm like errrrr lol at least it's outside! Lol

Thank you, I'm still not sure of tags so being cautious.

0
0
0.000
avatar

hehe ah yes, she is learning. ♥ This reminds me of my childhood days and how I completely destroyed a doll by applying makeup, lol

0
0
0.000
avatar

education is perfectly fine, they are not a picky lot. Anything to do with children is great.

0
0
0.000
avatar

Thank you for your engagement on this post, you have recieved ENGAGE tokens.

0
0
0.000
avatar

I've featured your post in the @HomeEdders weekly curation.

Curated by @minismallholding on behalf of @HomeEdders.


Supporting home education and educational content. If you're a home educator, home educated or are thinking about home education, find out what we're about HERE.

You can join the community by clicking the subscribe button on Hive or Peakd.

please feel free to join us on discord.

0
0
0.000
avatar

Thank you for your engagement on this post, you have recieved ENGAGE tokens.

0
0
0.000
avatar

Haha, loved this post! Thanks for sharing that valuable lesson you taught your daughter!!

I first assumed the bathroom would be soaking wet after this attempt, but this ended in a surprisingly good way!

To be honest, I also have the urge to intervene too quickly with our daughter to avoid disasters (I would probably have done so here).. To make it a teachable moment anyway, I'd probably told her to fill it up using a bowl with water or something. But you made me think I should sometimes let her discover these things herself :) Thanks!

0
0
0.000
avatar

Haha yes, but by using the bowl she wouldn't learn about weight and the difference between liquids and solids. She has asked me why she can't pick up water and it was good teacher her about what liquids are and what solids are. It keeps them thinking.

0
0
0.000
avatar

Yes, you're defo right! Reading the explanation I'd compare it to my boyfriend's logic and interaction with her as he'd probably use the same logic as you've done. Perfect balance, I'd say :) haha

0
0
0.000