Part 7/10 – Why is it important for children to continue practicing the use of self-regulation tools?

Self-regulation is a skill that needs to be continually developed for an individual to be stronger at coping with emotions and managing anxiety or stress.

Training children to be equipped with self-regulation tools is the first step towards helping them self-regulate their emotions.

When children learn how to use the tools that have already been structured for them such as the PIE (Pause, Imagine, Express) tool, it becomes easier for them to remember and learn. The next step is guiding them and ensuring that children are able to use these tools effectively and independently.

Practice or repetition is the key to ensuring the child has learnt how to use the tools. It provides opportunities for children to self-regulate on their own, and using it in more situations makes the child become more familiar with it.

Reinforcing these practices in the early years helps the child gain mastery over the tools, and being more familiar makes it easier for children to respond to managing emotions and stress.

This is crucial as children may find it harder to recall how to use the tools under stress. It may even be used in future situations like handling the stress from higher education like primary school and above.

Furthermore, children should be encouraged to continue practicing the use of self-regulation tools to understand which tool works best for them during different kinds of situations.

References

• https://childmind.org/article/can-help-kids-self-regulation/
• https://proudtobeprimary.com/teaching-kids-to-self-regulate-in-the-classroom/