Check this put if you want to have obedient children

“If Mama said, sleep. Sleep. Go over there.” Have you ever said this sentence to a child? As parents, we want our children to obey what we tell them. We want them to be obedient children. Of course this is good. Through obedience we can teach them many things. We can direct children to develop into the person we want to be.
What I want to underline is: did you also explain the reason behind the order? Did you explain to the child why he had to sleep? Is the child told the consequences if he does not sleep? Sometimes we forget this. The number of household tasks and the time that feels very little makes us give orders without explaining the reasons. Children are expected to obey without asking. What are the consequences if this becomes a habit? Children lose their ability to think critically. They are used to receiving all the information presented to them without processing it first. In an extreme stage, these children will be easily influenced by fake news or hoaxes because the critical analysis sensor in them has not been activated for a long time. We certainly do not want this to happen to our children.

Patient in Explaining

So how to keep children’s critical thinking skills honed? One of them is through an explanation of the reason or purpose of the command we give him. This does take time and patience. One night my little girl didn’t want to sleep, she wanted to keep playing.

“Let’s go to sleep. It’s night already. Look outside it’s dark, right? It’s time to rest at night.”
My toddler peeked out the window then got back into bed and got ready for bed. Thank God, he obeyed. The next day, when it was time for a nap, I took him back to bed.

“Come on, let’s sleep.”
“It’s noon, mom. It’s clear. Why sleep?”
The answer made me feel happy and excited at the same time. Glad that he was able to process last night’s information and use it as a reference into his problem this afternoon. Exasperated because I needed to explain the reason why he had to take a nap.

This process is not easy. When their critical abilities begin to develop, children will ask deeper questions. See this as a learning process. It is important to explain the essence of the real reason. Children can also question the answers we give. Sometimes these discussions are tiring but the results are worth it.

At certain times, of course, we can give orders without reason. Just, as much as possible do not make this a habit. May Allah make it easy.