Offer support and guidance if your child becomes frustrated with a task. Respond promptly if your child calls for assistance. Show your child how to solve the problem, then, let your child solve it on their own once they know how to, and want to continue playing. Banerjee PN, Tamis-Lemonda CS. (2007). Infants' persistence and mothers' teaching as predictors of toddlers' cognitive development. Infant Behav Dev.;30(3):479–491. Lucca, K., Horton, R. & Sommerville, J.A. Infants rationally decide when and how to deploy effort. Nat Hum Behav (2020)
Encourage your child to keep trying to solve a problem when they look like they are about to give up.
Caregivers who are sensitive and responsive to children’s emotions and support their behaviours just above their current level may foster both persistent behaviour and advanced cognitive development in the future.
Caregivers of toddlers can support learning by watching for signs of engagement development in toddlers as they provide authentic opportunities for scaffolding and supporting their persistence in the learning process. Research continues to support a child-specific approach in which caregivers can scaffold by modelling play and using toys in symbolic ways that provide context and meaning for children. Bodrova, E. 2008. “Make-Believe Play versus Academic Skills: A Vygotskian Approach to Today’s Dilemma of Early Childhood Education.” European Early Childhood Education Research Journal 16 (3): 357–369. doi:10.1080/13502930802291777. Worley, L., & Goble, C. (2016). Enhancing the Quality of Toddler Care: Supporting Curiosity, Persistence, and Learning in the Classroom. YC Young Children, 71(4), 32-37. Retrieved March 6, 2020, from www.jstor.org/stable/ycyoungchildren.71.4.32
Studies have shown that parental use of praise which focuses on the child’s effort, also known as process praise, and persistence-focused language, predicts infants’ persistence during a task in which infants are dynamically interacting with their parent.
Read more at AL-PER-C02 and AL-PER-C03.