Encouraging Children To Ask As Many Questions As They Want!
“You don’t want a million answers as much as you want a few forever questions. The questions are diamonds you hold in the light. Study a lifetime and you see different colors from the same jewel.”
Richard Bach
I’ve always had trouble coping up with asking questions, and one particular childhood memory reminds me why that is. I was 12 years old, dressed in my school uniform and my father was about to drop me to my school. When we reached the school, he handed me some form of letter and asked me to take it to the school office. I cheerfully asked what it was that I was holding and why it needed to be taken to the office. Instead of being pleased at my nosiness, he became annoyed at my question and told me that he is going to do it himself if I’m having troubles doing it. I tried to explain that I was just curious, but my father’s anger just deepened further. This wasn’t the first time I had felt incredibly hurt and ashamed for asking him a question. I wished I hadn’t asked at all. Maybe that would have pleased him better!
1. Children learn by asking questions.
Students learn by asking questions. New recruits learn by asking questions. Innovators understand client needs by asking questions. It is the simplest and most effective way of learning. Brilliant thinkers never stop asking questions because they know that this is the best way to gain deeper insights.
2. Young children are curious beings.
They look at their surroundings in awe, yearn to smell and touch what they haven’t before, questioning what they don’t understand. As children grow older, the frequency and types of questions asked does indeed change, but a child’s thirst for knowledge still remains. Yet it’s during these early years that their questions really need to be encouraged.
Although young children may appear dogged with their curiosity, they may not necessarily want an answer, just an opportunity to engage in a conversation about something they’re interested in.
3. Value your child’s questions.
As parents, it would be impractical to answer every single question throughout the day. As long as one is encouraging their children to ask questions most of the time, it’s perfectly reasonable to leave the answer for a later time. However, if a child is repeatedly being discouraged from asking questions, there could be a detrimental effect on their development. Your child’s courage to ask questions and your willingness to answer them, matter a great deal to the future around us. You are helping your child to expand their view of the world, and to accumulate knowledge that will eventually make the world a better place to live in.
And just like science shows us through inventions like the telephone, electricity or the cures of many cancers, in order to find answers, we must first ask the right questions.
As elders, we need to do everything we can to encourage questions in our children. So hopefully one day, their curiosity might be the catalyst for immense change as well. They are going to shape the future and by helping them, we’re creating a better future for them.
The future belongs to the Curious. The ones, who are not afraid to try it, explore it, poke at it, question it, and turn it inside out.
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