The more you challenge your child, the higher quality their work becomes
As a parent, it's your job to nurture and challenge your child so they can reach their fullest potential. It can be tempting to give them easy tasks so they always succeed, but research has shown that this isn't the best approach. Instead, you should push them outside of their comfort zone by having them do more complex science experiments. This will develop their critical thinking and analysis skills, which will in turn lead to higher quality work overall. Here's a closer look at why this is so important.
The Power of Failure
One of the main reasons why challenging your children is so important is because it allows them to experience failure in a safe environment. When they're younger, it's easy for them to believe that they're invincible and that they can do anything they set their mind to. However, this simply isn't true. Everyone experiences failure at some point in their lives, and it's important for children to learn how to deal with it early on. Otherwise, they'll have a hard time bouncing back later in life when the stakes are higher.
Allowing children to fail also teaches them how to identify errors and fix them. This is an essential skill that they'll need in order to be successful in any field, whether it's science, math, or even creative writing. By identifying errors early on, children can fix them before they become bigger problems down the road. As a result, their work will be of a higher quality overall.
The Importance of Critical Thinking
In addition to developing problem-solving skills, challenging your children also allows them to practice critical thinking. This is the ability to think objectively and analyze information in order to make sound judgments. For example, let's say your child is working on a science experiment that isn't going as planned. Instead of getting frustrated or giving up, challenge them to think critically about the situation and come up with a new plan of action. Each of our STEM@Home boxes include guidance for parents so you know what probing questions to ask your child. These will allow your child to really question and think about what they just did and suggest ways they could make it better. It doesn’t matter if you don’t know what questions to ask them, our included guides will help you to help your child. This will not only help them troubleshoot problems now, but it will also set them up for success in the future when they're faced with more difficult challenges.
Challenging your children may seem like a daunting task, but it's actually one of the best things you can do for their development. By having them do more complex science experiments, you're not only helping them develop problem-solving skills—you're also teaching them how to think critically and objectively so they can succeed in any area of life. So go ahead and push your child outside of their comfort zone—you may be surprised at just how much they're capable of doing!
