THINKING

What do you do when you think? You try to dig out from memory all the information you have about the question and then try to see how your existing information can be used or manipulated. If you don’t have the adequate information, you say, ‘I don’t think I know’. Thus in thinking there is manipulation of ideas, existing or imaginary, to find a solution to the problem. There are three types of thinking: wishful thinking, realistic thinking and evaluative thinking. Fantasy, dreaming and day-dreaming are called wishful thinking. Inventors and artists have admitted that a significant idea came to them first in a dream. Wishful thinking is seen in children very frequently. It is a happy gratification of unfulfilled desires. Realistic thinking or reasoning helps the child to adjust to the real world . In realistic thinking a person combines bits of knowledge previously obtained on separate occasions and tries to put two and two together. This is also called deductive thinking. In evaluative thinking the appropriateness of an idea is checked. It involves critically judging the effectiveness and suitability of an idea. Thinking is thus possible when a person has collected plenty of ideas through the process of attention and perception, stored them in his memory and recalled them when required. Children must be trained to think for themselves from a very early age, even in the third year of life. When they come saying ‘I am not able to fix this toy’, ask him to look at the toy carefully, and see what he can do to repair it. Encourage your child to think.