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.”
Brandy Wells has additional self-regulation strategies on PBS.org.
Related reading: Cookie Monster’s cookies are more than meets the eye.
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