Throughout their lives, children will receive false or drastically simplified messages from authoritative sources. They will be told that Christopher Columbus discovered America; that Cortez and Pizarro were brave and noble explorers; that evolution is debatable; that anyone in this country can pull themselves up by the bootstraps. While there is some truth to all of these statements, none represents a whole truth. Not only will children receive flawed information in school, but they will not necessarily learn to think critically about this information—and about the ideas that they represent.
The best gift that you can give your children is the ability, the willingness, and the desire to think for themselves. This means thinking deeply and critically about what they see and the messages they receive from teachers, television, newspapers, friends; and yes, even you. Ideally, critical thinking about ideas translates into critical thinking about the self, our thinking patterns, our behaviors, and the effects that our lives and lifestyles have on the lives of others.
The best way to promote this critical thinking ability in your children is to be a critical thinker yourself. So discuss interesting, controversial topics with your children. Never pretend that things are black or white, because they are not. Never pretend that you have all the answers, because you do not. Your children should see you reading the newspaper and discussing interesting, infuriating, and heartbreaking stories. They should hear you and your partner debate nicely when you don’t agree on an issue. They don’t need to understand everything, and they won’t. And while they should certainly be protected from the most disturbing stories, when they are young, they shouldn’t be protected from hearing you speak intelligently to them and to other adults about things that move you. The message they will receive is this: the world is complicated and difficult, but our family cares deeply about issues and people outside of this family.
More important than what they learn in school is how they learn to approach ideas in the world: and they will learn this from watching you.
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