Importance of Self-Regulation in Early Childhood Education

This paper discusses the importance of enhancing self-regulatory abilities in children and the role of schools and parents in developing it. It explains the difference between self-regulation and compliance and provides information on the prefrontal cortex of the brain responsible for self-regulation. The paper also discusses the sources of stress that children face and the key steps to self-regulation. The plan of action for professional development and sharing information with colleagues is also included.

Running head: EARLY-CHILDHOOD EDUCATION
EARLY-CHILDHOOD EDUCATION
Name of the Student
Name of the university
Author’s note

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Calm, alert and learning
Summary of the chosen paper
Children’s house and school are the two most influential context in which the learning
and development occurs. The term ' self regulation' is normally used to discuss about a range of
abilities and characteristics that a child develops to control the emotions, focus his actions and
manage his feelings. This paper aims to discus about the importance of enhancing self regulatory
ability of the child. Self regulation in child plays a pioneering role in laying the foundation of the
child's psychological physical, behavioral and the educational well being of the child. The role of
a school is to bring each child to her individual self, achieve the maximum academic potential
and to obtain the skill of self regulation. Its effectiveness may vary from school to school
(Diamond & Lee, 2011).
A significant amount of the class works throughout the grades helps a child to develop
academically, but very few actually help to develop self regulation in children. Self regulation is
extremely important for a child to deal with the expectations and tasks that a child is confronted
with everyday. The paper discuss about the difference of self regulation and compliance.
Compliance is something that is seen in a child when he or she is afraid of being punished, or
solely to obtain any coveted award (Dickstein, 2015).
Previously it was of the idea that anything can be got out of a child by giving rewards and
punishment, but according to the new concept, children often don’t work well under compliance
and the task also becomes very draining for the adults who play the role of a disciplinarian to
force a child to do something. Self regulation on the other hand refers to an attempt to understand

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the cause of the problematic behavior and then try to solve the problem rather than just
extinguishing them. This paper produces information regarding the prefrontal cortex of the brain
that is responsible for the management of self regulation (Dickstein, 2015). Over the past few
decades scientists have discovered that the tactile stimulation that occurs in a baby due to some
affectionate touching, release neuro-hormones that have a calming effect on the child (Cherland,
2012). It can be done by gently rocking or bouncing the baby when he or she is fussy. The paper
discuses that the fundamental principle of self regulation about arousing a baby, that is
energizing her. This social engagement system is marked by the development of the language.
As a child grows there occurs a fundamental transition in his self regulation and he needs his
parents less ad peers more (Shanker, 2013). The paper further more discusses about many
regulations that children face for self regulating himself. The paper further discuses about the
sources of stress that a child suffers from: Biological, emotional, cognitive, social and prosocial
factors. . The paper further aims to discus about the key steps of self regulation.
Rationale for choosing this topic
My rationale for choosing this topic is that connection between educators has been found
to be a primary factor for the cognitive and the psychosocial development of children. The self
regulation techniques described by this paper can be useful for a childhood educator to deal with
child education. Registered childhood educators should focus to have child's eye light up as they
visit the classroom. Close, nurturing relationships helps to build the cognitive connection with all
the aspects of life. I believe that it also helps out the child from getting over the toxicity of the
stresses (Garner et al., 2012). Since a child educator acts as a bridge between the child's mind
and the real world, the educator has to remain acquainted with all the facilitators and the barriers
that enhance or cease a child's learning (Sabol & Pianta, 2012). The first step of self regulation in

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a child is to make sure that he or she is well slept receiving nutritious food and regular physical
activities. We can use simple aids like discs for their chair at school or some play dough for
squeezing, that can be calming for children. The second step is to remain aware what it is to be
calmly focused and hyper aroused. The third step is to teach the students about how students
should react to different situations. All these learning can be really useful for an RECE. These
factors make it an important topic of discussion for a future RECE.

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Plan of action for professional development
Self regulation is the capability to understand and manage the behavior, feelings and
reactions in response to the external environment. The goal is to regulate the reactions to
emotions like excitement and frustration; Calming down after the occurrence of something
upsetting or exciting, focus on a particular task, refocusing attention on a new task, control of the
impulses, teaching behaviors that would help the child to specialize in the near future (Diamond
& Lee, 2011).
One of the most important steps towards the self regulation is to be patient with the child,
as it can be very difficult for very young children to work as per the rules. The expectations
should be matched with the age of the child. It is necessary to try self model for the regulation of
the child. This can be done by showing the child how a frustrating work can be done without
getting upset (Dickstein, 2015). We can say somewhat like this, “The work was hard, but I'm
glad that they did not get angry as I might have not been able to do this". Furthermore it is
important to talk to talk to the child about emotions. For example, “Did you hit your friend
because she was not sharing the toy, but you could have asked her politely, now ask for the toy
politely and see the magic." When a child struggles with complicated feeling it is our duty to
encourage him to describe the feeling. The child should be taught to react to different emotions
(Duckworth & Seligman, 2005). For example the child can be taught to put her hands in the
pockets when she wants to snatch or strike out. Simple rules can be set that is comprehensive to
the child and simple to follow. Even if the child is too young we can talk about what kind of a
behavior we expect. For example, "if you hit your friend, he will never play or talk with you;
hence you should never hit him. It is necessary to use words of praise when the child shows self

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control and follow the rules. Praise will tell him that he had done something really good and will
remain motivated to continue for future purposes. Words of appreciation like "I like the way you
shared the book with John, I am proud of you." Weekly classes will be arranged in order to
involve the parents in the learning process and to facilitate effective communication between the
parent and the educator.
How to share the information with the colleagues
Professional development can be accomplished by sharing knowledge of learning with
the peers. It can be done by encouraging group discussion or on any domains of social
networking site. Oral presentations with demonstration can be useful for disseminating
information among the peers. Debate and brainstorming workshops serve as an important
platform for sharing the knowledge. Other methods of dissemination can be E-mails, reports, and
one-to-one discussions, conferences .A vast majority of the people engaged in learning and
teaching are at least one mail base discussion list and can serve as an effective way of
communicating with the audiences. Short newsletters of the action plan can keep the targeted
audiences informed.

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References
Cherland, E. (2012). The polyvagal theory: neurophysiological foundations of emotions,
attachment, communication, self-regulation. Journal of the Canadian Academy of Child
and Adolescent Psychiatry, 21(4), 313.
Diamond, A., & Lee, K. (2011). Interventions shown to aid executive function development in
children 4 to 12 years old. Science, 333(6045), 959-964.
Dickstein, S. (2015). The family couch: considerations for infant/early childhood mental health.
Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Clinics, 24(3), 487-500.
Duckworth, A. L., & Seligman, M. E. (2005). Self-discipline outdoes IQ in predicting academic
performance of adolescents. Psychological science, 16(12), 939-944.
McEwen, B. S., & Lasley, E. N. (2002). The end of stress as we know it. Joseph Henry Press.
Moffitt, T. E., Arseneault, L., Belsky, D., Dickson, N., Hancox, R. J., Harrington, H., ... & Sears,
M. R. (2011). A gradient of childhood self-control predicts health, wealth, and public
safety. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 108(7), 2693-2698.
Pink, D. H. (2012). Book Review Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us.
Shanker, S. (2013). Calm, alert and learning: Classroom strategies for self-regulation. Toronto:
Pearson.