an article from
The Contemporary Classroom's
professional journal
helping children determine what's funny and what's not so funny
Often, children are exposed to various situations through TV shows and movies. This can make seemingly outlandish situations like throwing food or doing dares such as licking your shoe can seem silly and harmless to kids.
The name of this article stems from a very common dare students give to one another: to lick the bottom of their shoe.
It’s important for every child’s health and safety that they are able to think critically about the actions they make.
Below, we walk you through, step-by-step, how child development experts foster this skill.
first: Something to Note
These exercises are meant to be a resource that helps children critically think about all choices people make. This resource can be used through a conversation with a child about hypothetical situations or introduced when a child is in the middle of a real life situation where they made a choice that wasn’t healthy or safe.
Set The Stage: Have a chill, normal conversation
Whether having this conversation with your child in a hypothetical situation or as a follow up to them having made an unhealthy or unsafe choice, it is important that the adult is calm. This will help the child not feel attacked and will allow them to feel safe and comfortable having this conversation.
Third: critically think through some Situations
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ending the conversation
Ending the conversation by praising the child on their ability to critically think about situations is important. This helps foster their confidence that they will be able to think critically and make good choices in real life as well.