Asking the right question

I have been teaching secondary students for almost 9 years now. I would say teaching young children need a different approach and need to be more creative. I learnt a lot from my wife. When my kids at 4 to 5 years old, they always try to object or go against parent's decision or suggestion. When we ask them to sit, they will run, when i ask them to be silence, they will laugh loudly. Yes, they will try to be creative.


So, one day i heard my wife asking my son. " So, later, do you want me to add some onion leaves on the soup or not? " ( normally we will add a few pieces of onion leaves to make the soup more delicious ). Then, i came to realized that, we should always ask the right question to our kids to prevent them to go against our suggestion.

Why i said so? Just imagine these. Let say my wife ask, " Zhe Tse, do you want to drink soup or not?" Then, my son will replied, " No , mummy " ( going against the suggestion and he only has 2 choices, yes or no ). Of course, the issue about the onion leaves will stop immediately. Then, my wife will need to advice and encourage him to drink soup and explain the reason and bla bla bla. It might be successful or my son might be holding his decision. You see? That's why, for those parents, before we want our children to do something, we should think of the right question for them to follow, at least we have 90% of successful rate. It doesn't mean we want to stop their creativity but i believe there are plenty other ways to enhance creativity.