#Collaborative post
One of the most important lessons you can ever teach your child is how to be a great problem solver. This is because it helps them to lead a life full of confidence and independence, skills that can be used to tackle any problem that comes their way. As difficult as it can be to believe, no matter how hard you try to keep your child out of harm’s way, they will face problems at some point in their life as it is inevitable. This is why it is so important to teach your child the universal skill of problem solving. Below is some advice from this independent Catholic school in Surrey on helping your child become a better problem solver.
Don’t give up
Your child will always look up to you for examples and motivation when it comes to challenges and difficulties in life. If they witnessed you giving up as soon as things get too hard, naturally they will believe that this is the correct way to behave and start practicing it themselves too. Be sure to show your effort and hard work when it comes to attempting different challenges as it will definitely rub off onto your child and encourage them to take on the same behaviour. It isn’t difficult to find solutions to problems. It just takes a little bit of thought, effort and investigation to figure them out. However, it is also important to know when to draw the line. If you have attempted every possible solution and continuously faced failure, confidently admit that you have done your best and move onto a more effective approach.
Use games
Many children’s games are actually designed to help them gain a particular skill. For example, there are computer games out there that help children learn to code or work on their math skills, with others teaching children how to problem solve. Introducing games and activities such as sudoku, crosswords, treasure hunts or even a Rubik’s Cube can help to improve your child’s problem-solving skills as it teaches them to look at things from a different perspective.
Research
Whilst this may not be a direct method to help solve issues, having good research skills is actually essential to problem solving. Through this, children begin to understand their problems better and even find inspiration along the way to help come up with their own solutions. From books to articles and inspirational people, there are so many sources that can be explored.