Problem solving is a key transferable skill that many employers look for. It requires creative thinking and the ability to consider new perspectives.
By helping your child develop this, you can essentially prepare them for whatever life throws at them as they will have the skills to think of innovative solutions.
Here are some tips recommended to us by a secondary school in Kildare.
The problem-solving process
The first step is to introduce the process of problem solving. It starts with defining the problem.
Without doing so, it’s not possible to brainstorm ideas which they will need to do next.
Brainstorming
No idea is too silly or outrageous in this step. You should encourage your child to put forward all of the ideas that they can possibly think of.
To help them out, you can give them a little nudge by encouraging them to consider alternative perspectives.
They will need to then evaluate these and select the most appropriate and effective.
Random stimuli
Sometimes you just need to move away from the problem at hand.
Working hard on something for long can stifle your creativity. Having a break to explore new things can inspire children and give them the creativity boost that they need to do their best thinking.
Don’t run away from your problems
While avoidance is the easier option, it doesn’t get us very far.
Accountability is an important lesson to teach children and something that you can do by demonstrating that it’s not hard to face your problems at all.
Whenever you come head-to-head with one, show how excited you are to rise to the challenge and potentially learn something new. Y
our attitude will soon rub off on your child, helping them to become a better problem solver.
Problem solving games
Riddles and puzzles are a great way to push and test your child’s problem-solving abilities.
There are many out there that you can find. A toy as simple as a rubix cube will even do.
Disclosure: this is a collaborative post
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