{"id":72499,"date":"2024-04-04T15:44:16","date_gmt":"2024-04-04T08:44:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/inovatestory.com\/?p=72499"},"modified":"2024-04-04T22:08:50","modified_gmt":"2024-04-04T15:08:50","slug":"raise-kids-who-challenge-and-question-everything","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/inovatestory.com\/raise-kids-who-challenge-and-question-everything\/","title":{"rendered":"Raise Kids Who Challenge and Question Everything"},"content":{"rendered":"

When I tell people that I\u2019m raising my kids to challenge and question everything, they look at me like I\u2019m crazy. After all, most of them grew up either in the \u201cchildren should be seen and not heard\u201d generation or the \u201cbecause I said so\u201d era. But I think teaching my kids to ask questions is one of my most important jobs as a parent.\n

Teaching kids to question authority helps protect them from predators\n
Protecting our kids is the single most important job we have as parents. Yes, teaching them the lessons they need to become kind and decent beings who, hopefully, change the world is definitely a priority. Sure, we even want to help them become successful (although I\u2019d rather have kids with rich hearts than rich bank accounts). But ultimately, our number one job is to keep them safe.\n
If our kids feel like they can never question or challenge adults, they\u2019re going to feel like they have to do whatever they\u2019re told\u2026even if it\u2019s something that they know is wrong. I never, ever, ever, ever want my kids to feel like they can\u2019t say \u201cno\u201d to someone who is trying to hurt them. That\u2019s also why I don\u2019t let anyone force hugs on them, either. I want them to know beyond a shadow of a doubt that they alone hold all of the rights when it comes to their body.\n
Kids who are comfortable challenging norms may resist peer pressure better, too\n
The dangers from pe.er pressure extend way beyond dr .ugs and alc0h0l. Teenagers admit that their friends pressure them to have s3x, b .ully other kids, and even self-h@rm.\n
When we teach our kids to question everything, we\u2019re also teaching them to challenge the \u201cnorms.\u201d We\u2019re helping them understand that no one should just \u201cgo along to get along,\u201d or go jumping off proverbial bridges (or heck, even literal ones) just because all of their friends are doing it. Will it save them entirely from peer pressure? Probably not. But like keeping them safe from predators, it\u2019s part of a multi-pronged approach.\n
The world doesn\u2019t need more adults who blindly obey authority\n
L. R. Knost, an expert in the gentle parenting method wrote, \u201cThe ultimate gift we can give the world is to grow our tiny humans into adult humans who are independent thinkers, compassionate doers, conscious questioners, radical innovators, and passionate peacemakers. Our world doesn\u2019t need more adults who blindly serve the powerful because they\u2019ve been trained to obey authority without question. Our world needs more adults who question and challenge and hold the powerful accountable.\u201d\n
Only by teaching our kids to question EVERYTHING– including both the people they agree with AND the people they disagree with- can we break this cycle of just blindly following orders. Then maybe we can start to see some real progress in the world again.\n
Knowing how to ask the right questions will help them in life.\n
There are two quotes that go along with this one. The first, from Warren Berger, says, \u201cKnowing the answers will help you in school. Knowing how to question will help you in life.\u201d The second (source unknown) goes, \u201cKnowledge is having the right answer. Intelligence is asking the right questions.\u201d I think both quotes are important. It\u2019s not enough to just ask questions. We also need to teach our kids how to ask the RIGHT ones. But we can\u2019t do that unless we\u2019re allowing them to question everything in the first place.\n
You can raise respectful kids who question everything, I promise\n
Along with teaching my kids that it\u2019s okay to ask questions, I also teach them about the importance of kindness. My rule is that they can ask me anything and challenge anything I say BUT they MUST be respectful about it. If I tell them \u201cno\u201d to something and they start screaming \u201cwhy\u201d at me, that\u2019s not acceptable. If they politely ask why I feel that rule is important, though, I will absolutely tell them. If they understand why I set a rule, they\u2019re more likely to respect it because they know that it\u2019s not just \u201cbecause I said so.\u201d\n
More importantly, when they respect my rules, they\u2019re less likely to break them. Later on down the road when they\u2019re teenagers, not breaking my rules could very well save their lives. For example, I absolutely intend to have a \u201cno texting while driving\u201d rule. So, again, by raising them to ask questions, I\u2019m doing my most important job: protecting them.\n
I hope my kids never stop questioning\n
I\u2019ll leave you with one last quote. Einstein once said, \u201cLearn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow. The important thing is not to stop questioning.\u201d I truly hope my kids never, ever stop asking questions. I hope that they keep asking them until they fully understand the answer. Just as important, I hope that challenge any answer that makes them uncomfortable or that they know in their hearts isn\u2019t right. If they do that, I\u2019ll feel like I\u2019ve done my job as a parent.\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
When I tell people that I\u2019m raising my kids to challenge and question everything, they look at me like I\u2019m crazy. After all, most of them grew up either in the \u201cchildren should be seen and not heard\u201d generation or the \u201cbecause I said so\u201d era. But I think teaching my kids to ask questions\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":72511,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[642],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-72499","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-moral-story"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/inovatestory.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Raise-Kids-Who-Challenge-Question-Everything.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inovatestory.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72499","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inovatestory.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inovatestory.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inovatestory.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inovatestory.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=72499"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inovatestory.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72499\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inovatestory.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/72511"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inovatestory.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=72499"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inovatestory.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=72499"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inovatestory.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=72499"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}