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I think a better way to raise a critically thinking child is to ask questions when they ask you questions. "Mom, is the Easter bunny a giant bunny or a man in a bunny suit"..."hummm, I don't know, what do you think?" and dialog from there.
"mom, why did white people think it was ok keep black people as slaves?" "I think there were a lot of reasons, what do you think might have caused them to think it was ok to buy people?" (real conversation from today)
Instead of dictating to your child, or lying or having them create a book of lies...ask them questions when they question something. Talk through a question, not telling them they are wrong. After they share, you can share your opinion...as an opinion.
Children will automatically become critical thinking at some point, unless you have stunted them by not allowing them to have their own opinions. I think a way to nurture it is to have them practice it by asking them what they think.
I think that once a child is old enough to reason and think for oneself, debate should be encouraged and also taught to be polite and respectful to people with a different opinion. I think it is wrong for children to always, for example, support our country and/or president, no matter what.
This last part is quite different from how I was brought up, btw!
However, I do remember when I was about 13 or so telling my parents about something I had read in the paper, and they asked, "Do you always believe everything your read in the paper?" and when I said "Yes", they just smiled as if to say, "Must be nice to be so young and naive!"
I think that once a child is old enough to reason and think for oneself, debate should be encouraged and also taught to be polite and respectful to people with a different opinion. I think it is wrong for children to always, for example, support our country and/or president, no matter what.
This last part is quite different from how I was brought up, btw!
However, I do remember when I was about 13 or so telling my parents about something I had read in the paper, and they asked, "Do you always believe everything your read in the paper?" and when I said "Yes", they just smiled as if to say, "Must be nice to be so young and naive!"
Debate is a very good thing to encourage. Growing up, the dinner table was a great place of debate in my family, and still is whenever we visit, although my parents never wavered from their views but arguing our points made us understand them better.
Agree that you don't want to raise your child to be cynical so much as to raise them not to take everything without question. There are negatives to cynicism.
I'd change the title of your "Notebook of Lies" to something like "Notebook of Questions", "Notebook of Doubts", or even "Research Notebook". The notebook is a great idea. But you don't want to encourage your child to believe everything they doubt is automatically a lie before they've even researched it. (But I do love the idea of encouraging kids to research things they doubt.)
Believing everything is a lie can be just as bad as believing everything is true.
This is so true! I tend to lean toward the cynical myself and it is very difficult for me to communicate to my children how to not be taken as a fool but to not always believe the worst. I fear that my oldest daughter is starting to become a cynic so I have been trying to dial it back with her as much as possible. Not an easy task.
I think that my goal for them was to have a realistic view on the world. In other words, look into the reason why people do the things they do or why TV ads are worded the way they are, etc. That is difficult to do without making everything seem like there is an ulterior motive. I am still working on this balance with them.
Being cynical is a hard way to go through life. It becomes hard to trust, you come off as judgmental, and can be construed as very negative. I really like the idea of the notebook but agree that a title change is in order. I personally like the suggestion above of Research Notebook. It sounds more scientific and science is more about being objective and gethering evidence. Less subjective and assuming.
Nobody raised me to be cynical. I became that way on my own after many, many negative experiences with people. People for the most part are selfish and two-faced. You can wear rose colored glasses and pretend everyone loves each other, but I'll stick with reality.
and
often being cynical is being DISMISSIVE as a kid,,,a VERY unattractive, trait often looking spoiled, self centered, and indifference,,,
id much rather have a high strung inquisitive kid,,,that eyes light up with new finds or adventures,,,than a cynical, dismissive and indifferent kid,,,that finds little joy in anything,,,and always finds the negative side of things,,
why we cant,,,not how we can,,,
we all know adults that are cynical that are downers,,,i use to be very cynical as a young adult,,,in a joking way,, but I dropped that around 30..
no matter what anyone is telling you,,,,you are suspect,,,not such a bad thing to have a little skepticism,,, but not totally cynical,,
its easy to be an island,,,but islands are cold
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