The Critical Need for Critical Thinking: Why It's Crucial to Ask Why? More Often

If you're the parent of a three- or four-year-old, you know that one of the most common words (after "No," of course) out of your youngster's mouth is "Why?" And thank goodness for that.

As exhausting as it can be to have to answer one question after another for hours on end, a child's curiosity - the need to understand the why of everything - is a wonderful thing, and something to be encouraged for the rest of his or her life. In fact, we adults could learn a lot from the little kids in our lives by imitating them and asking "Why?" a lot more often ourselves.

It's the first step in developing the habit of critical thinking, a skill that can help us lead better, more informed lives.