Sometimes it’s hard to stay calm and resist impulses, like not eating giant, fresh, warm cookies on a plate. They’re just waiting to be eaten. Looking melty. Smelling delicious. How can we wait? And how can kids (and adults) learn and practice self-regulation?

NPR Life Kit: Parenting offers some helpful strategies. In this video, Raising Awesome Kids podcast hosts Cory Turner and Anya Kamenetz work with Cookie Monster to demonstrate how to delay gratification: Take deep belly breaths, talk about a book you’ve read, sing a song, or focus on the reason you’re waiting.

And their podcast guests Rosemarie Truglio of Sesame Workshop and Kentaro Fujita of The Ohio State University offer additional tools: Channeling heroes—what would Rey or Black Panther do?—and remembering that “self-regulation as a skill that can be learned and practiced, like skiing or baseball.”