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The ability to solve problems isn’t something that we’re naturally born with, it’s something that we must learn over time. This comes more naturally to some than to others, so it’s important for parents to try and find ways to help their children develop problem solving skills. Here are some tips from a prep school in Amersham.
Help Your Child Cope with Emotions
Heightened emotions often act as a barrier to successful problem solving. With this in mind, it might be worth helping your child handle their emotions before you attempt to teach them problem solving skills. Help them learn some suitable techniques for coping with anger, sadness, and other challenging emotions.
Praise Problem Solving
When you notice that your child is attempting to solve a problem, be sure to praise them. This could be something as simple as them finding something else to eat for breakfast if the cereal has run out. Point out how proud of them you are and explain why so that they can start to understand what processes are involved in successfully solving problems.
Embrace Mistakes
There will be times when your child attempts to solve a problem and it doesn’t quite go to plan, and that’s perfectly ok. Don’t feel like you need to step in and save the day every time; allow your child to make mistakes so that they can start to understand cause and effect. They will learn how to theorise outcomes by considering past experiences. For instance, they might think “I won’t do it this way because last time that didn’t work”.
Help Your Child Come Up with Various Options
When faced with a problem, help your child come up with various different options of how they can solve it and allow them to decide what they think the best option is. It doesn’t even matter if these ideas seem completely unrealistic, the trick is to encourage them to think outside of the box and put their creative brain to the test.
Make Problem Solving Fun
Solving a problem doesn’t always have to be an uphill battle. Try and find ways to make problem solving something that your child can enjoy, so that they can approach issues with a positive attitude in the future.