Including the Kids Enhances Critical Thinking
Paul White's nationally distributed syndicated column, “Including the Kids Enhances Critical Thinking” is published in 22 publications across seven states. This includes the following newspapers and digital publications: Midland Daily News (MI), SFGate (CA), Seattle PI (WA), Connecticut Post (CT), Laredo Morning Times (TX), Huron Daily Tribune (MI), The Telegraph (IL), and more. In this week's article, Paul walks down memory lane to share stories of his family’s past to share a valuable life tool about critical thinking.
My wife found a saying that she thinks fits our family. The saying is “You can’t scare me; I held the flashlight for my father!” Every time the saying comes up, I find myself laughing and crying at the same time due to the evidence that our past contains in the process of raising four boys. Walk with me down memory lane for just a minute and I’ll explain what I mean and give you a valuable life tool for your personal use moving forward.
My own father was a handy guy with good knowledge and skill sets when it came to tools and what they were used for. He kind of had to be because when he was over in Europe during World War II, people’s lives would depend on his work as an airplane mechanic. He shared with me that a pilot would always seek out the mechanic that had worked on his plane and take that mechanic for a “test ride” to make sure his work was performed correctly. Now THAT’S motivation to get it right the first time, every time.
I also had a grandfather, who was a brilliant engineer working on a piece of equipment at Champion Spark Plug when someone powered the machine on, not knowing my grandfather’s hand was in it and the machine severed his ring finger. This was long before OSHA created Lockout/Tagout rules. Understandably, safety using any kind of tool while working on vehicles, equipment, wood, metal, or anything else was a high priority in our house. This may have also been part of the reason that I sometimes defaulted to the “give the man a fish” style of training rather than the much better “teach a man to fish” training as our kids were growing up.
By adulthood I had become pretty proficient with nearly every tool I needed to complete work on a wide variety of equipment utilized by the drycleaning industry along with being able to repair nearly everything at home (I still don’t like complicated electric work). This is where the life lesson begins. As we kept adding kids to our family, time was a precious commodity. When I needed to replace a faucet, repair the vacuum, fix the weed whacker, work on a vehicle, drywall and paint (my wife was much better at these two), replace a water heater, change the filters for the furnace and water purifier, and more, I tended to be in a hurry to get the job done rather than use it as a learning experience for our kids. It was always easiest to just have them hold the flashlight.
Time became a motivating factor for involving the kids with a “learn by observing” instead of the more valuable “learn by doing” strategy. Why? Because before every job, I would share with my wife how long I thought it would take to complete the task. She would multiply my time estimate by 4 and I’ll be doggone if she wasn’t right…every single time. Thankfully, starting a 3-hour job on a Saturday morning meant it would most likely be completed by the end of the weekend. To be fair, I didn’t have YouTube videos to learn from like our kids do today. The truth is, I refer to them all the time now when looking for solutions to challenges, especially when they offer time savings. Another thing that provided an incredible learning experience for our kids when it came to the trades, and the tools utilized in them, was their involvement in Boy Scouts. All four of our sons are Eagle Scouts and I’m grateful for the gaps Scouts filled that I had neglected to include.
“Enhances Critical Thinking” is what I mentioned in the title, and this recently became the basis of a discussion with two of our sons who had installed a couple of can lights and an exhaust fan in a bathroom that previously had neither. Our oldest son and his wife had purchased a house built in the 1930’s and wanted some upgrades. Working together, the brothers correctly and safely ran electrical wiring, added switches for the fan and lights, cut holes in the ceiling for the units, and repaired the drywall with the correct products. When the job was complete, it appeared that a professional contractor had done the work. I was impressed. Turns out, our sons were more impressed with the critical thinking skills they had utilized to get from start to finish. That was their number one takeaway.
When our oldest son was getting ready to apply to colleges, a nephew of mine tossed out his opinion that the real purpose of college is to “teach a person how to think.” I countered with “if that’s the real purpose, I’m pretty concerned about the price they’re asking.” Joking aside, it did make me realize that of all the opportunities parents have raising kids, one of the best is to place them in situations that require the advancement of critical thinking skills. That includes having the patience to take the time to involve them in the problem solving and critical thinking that goes on when you’re attempting to fix things. Embrace this life lesson and watch your kids (and your own) critical thinking skills soar. Now, when I get a second chance with my future grandkids, I’ll be the one holding the flashlight. GiddyUp!
Paul White is a guest columnist and author. Purchase his life-changing book “The Answer Discovery – How to Change the World by Helping Others…and Ourselves” at http://bit.ly/PaulWhiteAmazon. If you’re interested in getting in touch with Paul, please submit an inquiry via our Contact Page.