Decisions that our teens make can impact their lives. Teaching our teens that decision-making is critical for them involves helping them develop critical thinking skills. Sherri and I have blogged about different ways to help our teen improve critical thinking. Different ways to develop this skill include game-playing, discussions of current media events, and discussions of how to problem-solve difficult situations.
Discuss important life decisions with your teen. Ask your teen to think about all the possible outcomes to these life decisions. One example would be the decision to pursue more education after high school or not to pursue more education. Ask your teen to think about how things might go for him if he gets his high school education then enters the working world; gets training in a program for a specialized job such as an auto mechanic or a hairdresser; or goes to college for a degree. Have your teen discuss the positive and negative aspects of each of these decisions. Critical thinking would involve thinking about all the possible outcomes of each decision.
As parents we do not always want to talk about these issues with our teen. But we are the best people to teach our teens these very important critical thinking skills. We want to equip our teen to make the decisions that will have the most positive outcome for his life.
Dr. Debra
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