Training kids to think strategically and out-of-the-box

In one of my first articles - Raising kids to be mentally smart and sharp - I wrote about three critical mental abilities areas that you must focus on: Memory, Strategic/Out-of-the-box thinking and fast information processing.  I've already talked about Memory in one of my previous blogs - hope your memory is good and still remember reading my blog. Today I'll focus on Strategic and out-of-the box thinking skill which is absolutely essential in order to be a good problem-solver. Here are some key day-to-day things you can do to help your kids develop this skill:

1. Don't make all the decisions for them or solve all their problems. Let them work at it atleast for some time before you offer some guidence. A key ingredient to problem solving is patience. If they are used to getting quick solutions to all their problems and questions they'd never learn that it takes patience and resilience to solve problems and getting frustrated will not get them anywhere.

2. Involve them in a real project that you as a parent are working on. For example, I got an unassembled bed from IKEA and asked both of my kids to join me as helpers. They got excited about the fact that they get to do a real project, we got  to have the family time together and they got to solve some minor problems that came up during the assembly process. In the end they get a feeling of accomplishment at seeing a finished bed and also watching thier dad working patiently on a project (by the way, I'm myself not a very patient person). OK agree - you'd need some patience for sure as their help may actually result in extra work for you and that is ok.

3. Play age appropriate board games that require some level of strategic thinking. We (myself and my wife) started playing Chinese Checker with my 5yr old a few months ago. Now he loves it and has gotten pretty good at it. I'm planning to start playing Chess with my 9 year old daughter during this fall. Tic-Tac-Toe is another simple game that helps develop strategic thinking skill -  No need to buy anything here, just need paper and pencil. Although I'm not a fan of hand-held electronic games such as Nintendo etc., there are some good games you can buy if your kids already have DS or Wii - Professon Layton and the Curious Village and Brain Age 1 or 2. I know as working parents we don't have time to play all the games I'm listing here. Encourage them to play these games with  friends or among thmselves as siblings.

An important point I'd emphasize is that the key to being a good problem solver is to have a calm head and be persistant. This only comes with practice. Get them started early - and that's the bottomline.