The Best Way to Teach Self Control to Children is to Model It

We all want our children to be successful, so we do our best to prepare them to thrive in the world. Chief among the skills anyone must have to succeed is self control because it affects every aspect of life from finance to work to health.

According to academic research, children who lack self control and planning skills are more likely to have behavior problems or exhibit aggression. Sadly, they are more likely as well to suffer from anxiety and/or depression.

So how do you teach children to control themselves, to control urges to act out in just the wrong setting, to eat bad food, to do the difficult things they must to succeed? As with so much of child rearing, much of that depends on what they see in you.

Sure, we can throw a lot of rules at children, and those can be useful for establishing structure and routine so that self control habits become ingrained. But, just as with other life lessons, modeling self control is the most powerful tool a parent has in teaching it.

So with that in mind, we recommend that parents demonstrate how to handle life’s challenges and frustrations. If something isn’t going right, say you get a wrong order at a restaurant or face some other disappointment or difficult challenge, see it as an opportunity to prepare your child for success.

At Kid E Nation, we want your child to succeed as much as you do. That’s why we do our best to teach them self control, to give them a sense of order and to make sure they know we care about them.

But you, as the primary teach of their young lives, have the most influence when it comes to teaching the most important life lessons.

If you remember that your child pays attention to how you behave, it’s easy to choose a calm response to almost any situation. That’s what you want from them, so that’s what you show them.

Call us today (LINK) if you have any questions concerning our philosophy about childcare or anything else regarding Kid E Nation. We love to hear from parents, whether or not their little ones are part of the Kid E Nation.