The Importance of Self-Regulation in Children
Erica GBB • August 7, 2023
Parenting is a challenging journey, especially when it comes to children of any age. Just when you think you have the answers, the questions change. Like us, children sometimes struggle with regulating their emotions, leading to meltdowns and difficulties in problem-solving.
Emotional self-regulation is the ability to control and be aware of one's emotions, enabling one to approach tasks more effectively. Although this may seem like a daunting task for little humans, it is a crucial aspect of ongoing development. As children learn to self-regulate over time, they experience numerous benefits, including:
- Improved emotional intelligence
- Development of self-discipline
- Increased independence
- Better adaptation to environmental changes
As adults, we ourselves often find it challenging to manage our emotions and behaviors, which may lead you to wonder, "How can I help my screaming child manage their emotions?" Well, here are a few simple ideas to get you started:
- Regulate your own emotions and body before approaching the situation to help your child. Children tend to mirror their parents' emotions and behaviors, so try your best to remain calm. Encourage them to identify and express how they feel, and you can use a feelings chart to assist with this.
- Engage in regulation strategies together with your child. Spending time in a calm and quiet place can be helpful, but what's more important is establishing a connection through tension and release activities. For instance, ball up your fists tightly while breathing in, then release your fists as you exhale. There are many other effective strategies, but the main focus here is creating a calmer environment.
- Utilise a problem-solving wheel with different strategies. Visual aids can act as reminders of regulation techniques and may be beneficial for your child.
- Offer verbal reminders and talk your child through each strategy. Allow them to choose the method they prefer, as giving them choices fosters independence.
- Listen to your child and ensure that you give them the space to express their needs. Collaborate with them to find helpful solutions.
By following these simple suggestions, you can better connect with your child's emotions and help them establish and regulate their feelings. It's important to remember that our little ones are people too and sometimes need a guiding hand as they navigate through life.
How a love of reading begins long before a child can read, and how Junior Colleges Raslouw, a preschool in Centurion, brings stories into every day.
Running, climbing and balancing build more than strong bodies. Why movement matters for learning, and how our pre-school in Roodepoort puts it at the heart of every day.
Dress-up, make-believe and imaginary games do wonderful things for growing minds. Why pretend play matters, and how our preschool in Alberton makes room for it every day.
How small acts of independence build confident, capable children, and how our preschool in Sandton gives little ones room to say "I can do it myself."
How young children learn to speak up, perform and feel proud of themselves, and how our preschool in Fourways helps every child find their voice.
As adults, we often feel our problems are bigger just because we are. But children struggle with self-control just as much as we do, sometimes more. This can result in unpredictable or even explosive reactions to everyday situations. To manage these feelings, they need to use coping and calming strategies. These need to be taught so that over time, children can learn to implement these strategies for themselves.
There is much discussion and debate on whether walking rings are beneficial or dangerous to babies. Once very popular and widely used, in more recent years there has been a strong debate on their usefulness. We will take a closer look into these reasons and decide whether it is worth the risk. 1. Walking rings can cause a risk of serious injury; · Risk of falling down stairs or tipping over can result in head injuries, concussion, skull fractures and or soft tissue injuries to head and neck. · The raised height of the baby means that they are in closer reach to hot drinks, kettle and iron cords, stoves, cleaning products etc. Walking rings make it easier for babies to reach up and pull things down. 2. Walking rings may result in delayed motor development. · The natural process of learning to walk includes babies learning to roll, sit, crawl, scoot and stretch. These pre-walking skills help a baby strengthen their muscles and learn to balance. · Walking rings may visually appear as though they are helping your baby to walk, however, they can delay their motor milestone development, and in fact, they can hinder your child’s mental and learning development as well. · Walking rings prevent your baby from viewing their limbs and feet, which help babies to visually guide their legs across the floor. The visual-motor skills are critical for a child’s development of depth-perception and visual processing needed for tracking words across a page, moving their eyes from sentence to sentence and paragraph to paragraph. · Walking rings limit eye and foot coordination, which is necessary for motor planning and sequencing (praxis)– generating an idea of what you want to do (ideation), figuring out how you are going to do it (organisation) and then carrying out what you want to do (execution). Children with poor planning and sequencing may find difficulty when needing have to think harder to complete new physical tasks, due to poorly integrated information from the sensory systems. Under-developed planning and sequencing skills impact on a child’s ability to organise themselves and learn new routines. · It also prevents your baby from using their natural movement needed for cross-laterality, which is important for right and left-hemisphere development of the brain, fine and gross motor skills, balance, posture and language skills. The advantages of using a walking ring are as follows: · Providing your baby with a source of entertainment. · Allowing parents the opportunity to do some household tasks while babies keep themselves busy. Given the high risk of injury and the possibility of delaying development and milestones, you have to ask yourself whether it is worth taking the risk. I raised my babies in an era where walking rings were very popular and our babies spent much of their day rolling around the house in them. However, now being able to make an informed decision with the experience I have through witnessing the injuries and delays involved in walking rings, I would personally recommend baby learning to crawl and walk on the floor. I honestly believe that the risk is too high and our babies are far too precious to take that risk. Teacher Natalie Early Childhood Educato
Early mathematical experiences must be presented in kinaesthetic and concrete ways, leading to semi-abstract activities in Grade 1.
In our Junior Colleges schools, we have introduced P4C or Philosophy 4 Children from Grade 000. We begin the lessons on learning to make a choice, to justify the choice and to have a change of mind should the evidence convince them to do so.
Play for a child, prepares them for adulthood with all life’s delights and contests. What better way to learn as a child than to be given the chance to play freely in large areas?
