Self-Regulation

Regardless of a child's unique qualities, one thing remains the same; to improve learning and behavior, children must develop strong self-regulation skills. Read the article from the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC), "Developing Young Children's Self-Regulation Through Everyday ExperiencesPreview the document."

The marshmallow experiment is a famous test conducted by Walter Mischel at Stanford University and discussed by Daniel Goleman in his popular work.

In the 1960s, a group of four-year-olds were given a marshmallow and promised another only if they could wait 20 minutes before eating the first one.

Some children could wait and others could not. The researchers then followed the progress of each child into adolescence, and demonstrated that those with the ability to wait were better adjusted and more dependable (determined via surveys of their parents and teachers), and scored an average of 210 points higher on the Scholastic Aptitude Test.

Read the American Psychological Association (APA) article, "Delaying Gratification."

Reflect on the information in the NAEYC article, the article, and your text and explain how toddlers with better self-regulation skills are less likely to demonstrate behavior problems in preschool.

Explain why these self-regulation skills are so important and how you will promote the learning of self-regulation. How will you deliberately teach self-regulation as part of everyday experience? Share an example of your own self-regulation skills that you can model for others.