Can young children engage in intellectual conversations?
The answer is yes, once one realizes that by means of working within the child’s understanding of the world one can expand their understanding by means of asking them questions about their world. Michael Strong shows how to start by asking them simple questions about concepts such as “love,” “animal,” “fair,” “flying,” etc. With any concept one can ask them about examples, counterexamples, and boundary cases without pushing them towards any particular direction, but sincerely inquiring how they understand each concept. One can do so lovingly, gently, and authentically in a manner that shows that one loves and cares about how they think and understand the world. By means of such casual conversations interspersed into daily life, one can develop a child who develops the habit of engaging in intellectual dialogue as a normal human interaction.
