ï»żHey, whatâs up guys!
Today I wanted to talk about some really simple things you can do in your everyday life to help your teen become a better thinkerâŠand to help YOU learn to think better, as well! I love it that youâre listening to this podcastâŠjust getting introduced to the fallacies will automatically make you a stronger thinker and youâll know how to reason way better than those who donât know this stuff. But, to really learn the SKILL of good reasoning, you have to actually practice what youâre learning. You have to get into the habit of questioning what youâre hearing and actually USE the fallacies and apply them to the argument youâre being faced with.
So, here are 6 simple things you can do to raise kids who will be able to think for themselves. And let me say this before I begin: Yes, theyâll start to be able to recognize the fallacies right awayâŠand theyâll have a blast doing so! But applying them is a different matter. Itâs harder. They won't have the ability to think through everything right away. That's ok! Thatâs exactly why I review as much as I do in this podcast, and itâs why Iâm going to give you these 6 tips - so you can help them practice!
#1: Give them material to work with. When you find fallacies or bad reasoning, show your kids! Keep an eye or an ear out for bad reasoning and present it to your teens to think about. It could be something someone says, an ad on the radio, the headline of a news articleâŠwhatever. But bring it to their attention. This just happened yesterday in our house. I ran across a graphic on social media that sounded âgoodâ It talked about God, it talked about being Christlike, so it would be easy to assume that itâs ârightâ. But it wasnât. This graphic was using some fallacies and I knew it was the perfect opportunity for my daughter and her friend who happened to be over at our house to practice their critical thinking skills. Which brings me toâŠ
#2: As an open-ended question to get them thinking. Donât say: âLook at this example of equivocation.â Ask them a questionâŠforce them to think! Youâre trying to get them into the habit of THINKING about what theyâre seeing & hearing, so make them do the work of actually THINKING! If you spoon-feed them with the answer, they wonât get that practice. For example, yesterday, I had my daughter and her friend come over and look at the graphic. I asked them, âwhat do you guys think of this?â That was it. I didnât lead them. Now, these girls have been learning the logical fallacies & studying logic for 3 years, so that was a good question for them. If your student is new to fallacies and to studying logic, a better question might be, âDo you see any fallacies here? If so, which one?â Or maybe you could even start with, âWhat fallacy is this person committing?â All of those are great questions. The whole point is to just ask a question that makes THEM do the thinking.
#3: Give them space & time to think or talk it through. Donât rush them to the right answer, give them a chance to actually think about it. Sometimes we are in such a hurry in our busy lives that we donât take the time to just think deeply about something. Thinking deeply is a skill and we have to allow time for it to happen. Donât rush it.
#4: Keep it safe to be wrong. Donât make them feel bad if they donât get the ârightâ answer. They wonât always get it rightâŠthatâs not the point right now. The point is to get them thinking. Period. The accuracy will come with practice. If they give the wrong answer, ask another question. âHmm, thatâs interesting, what made you think that? What else could it be?â And send them back into their brain to do some more thinking. Let them correct themselves if they can! This happened with the girls. They didnât quite get it with their first reply, so I had them read it again and asked, âAnd what else?â and that brings me toâŠ
#5: Encourage them to think beyond their first reply. Asking questions like, âWhat else could it be?â or âWhat else could be true?â or âWhy do you think that?â or âHow does that compare to this?â or âIs that really true?â âHow do you know itâs true?â âWhat authority could we consult to see if itâs true?â Also ask questions like âWhy does this matter? Why is it important?â
Lastly, and in my opinion, most importantly, #6: Keep it fun. The best lesson I ever learned in helping my child learn was to keep things fun. Make it a game. Let it be something that they see you enjoying and the chances that theyâll enjoy it are much higher! Donât make them feel dumb for being wrongâŠitâs just learning. If you can make it into a game thatâs fun to play, theyâll be way more likely to want to play it. Keep it short, donât drag it out and make it boring! Thatâs honestly one of the reasons I keep these podcast episodes so short. I want them to be short & enjoyable so you always look forward to coming back for more!
So, the 6 ways to help your teen learn to think for themselves are:
#1: Give them material to work with
#2: Ask an open-ended question to get them thinking
#3: Give them space & time to think & talk it through
#4: Keep it safe to be wrong
#5: Encourage them to think beyond their first reply
#6: Keep it fun
Alright, join me tomorrow when weâll be discussing the Hasty Generalization Fallacy, and
Remember: When you learn HOW to think, you will no longer fall prey to those who are trying to tell you what THEY want you to think and it all starts with asking one simple question: âIs that really true?â
