All ResourcesDeveloping Self-Regulation Skills
We have all experienced a child having a tantrum – and may have had one ourselves from time to time! Children experience the same emotions and feelings adults feel but have yet to develop the language skills to verbally express them fully and in an appropriate manner. Additionally, children are still developing the ability to regulate and control their emotions and impulses when they experience these same emotions. Think about a toddler who bites someone when frustrated or throws themselves on the floor when they are told “no.” This typical, or normal, behavior happens as a result of the body’s inability to use other methods to calm themselves and express their feelings.
Helping children control their emotions
In From Neurons to Neighborhoods: The Science of Early Childhood Development, Shonkoff and Phillips (2000) explain self-regulation as “the ability to understand and manage your behavior and your reactions to feelings and things happening around you. This means, for example, finding appropriate ways to cope with strong feelings so they don’t become overwhelming, learning to focus and shift attention, and successfully controlling behaviors required to get along with others and work towards goals.”
Self-regulation includes being able to:
- Regulate reactions to emotions like frustration or excitement
- Calm down after something exciting or upsetting
- Focus on a task
- Refocus attention on a new task
- Control impulses
- Learn behavior that enables cooperation with others
