Involve Your Children in Problem Solving

When children bring their problems to us, we try to explain to them the solutions. However, we get easily frustrated when after repeated attempts we are not able to completely teach or explain them. But, the best thing is do not try to explain the solution or give answers to your children. Rather involve them in problem solving. First try to address the problem with their help and then encourage them to solve. There are various methods parents and teachers can employ while teaching problem solving.
1. Try to Listen Carefully to your children
Allow your children to tell in their own words about the problem and the solution. The research has proved that the children can improve problem solving skills by repeating the answers loudly. It helps in solving the similar problems in future as well. The simple reason is when children tell the answers or solutions loudly they retain the problem and the solutions for a long time.
2. Use Engaging Activities
When solving a problem, it is more important to select the right activity. One such activity is online flash cards. These cards are offered by many educational websites for students. The whole idea is to teach some new things using interactive activities.
3. Probing Questions
It is important to get to the root of the problem and solving it rather than just giving the solutions and reinforcing. For this, it is important to ask probing questions. Children will learn better if you ask children how you will add 2 and 2 rather than telling the addition of 2 and 2 is 4. The reason is simple they try to use their brain when telling how 2 and 2 makes 4. So as a parent or teacher try to create situations that require children to flaunt their existing knowledge or reasoning. Try to take it as an opportunity to discuss rather than giving a straight forward answer.
It is difficult to put the above suggestions into practice. However, thinking through the problem is more essential for kids than getting an answer. As a parent eager to help your children, putting this into practice can sometimes be difficult. There are some kids who constantly bog you down by asking questions. Do not put a full stop to their creativity, rather ask them what do you think is the answer. Then, they will reason out.
Holdthatword.com offers a great way for teaching vocabulary words by allowing you to create online flash cards for free. Vocabulary Flash Cards are effective teaching tools and improve the vocabulary of the learners of different age groups. Interactive games help students learn faster, especially young learners.