Play games or carry out activities with your baby that involve face-to-face interaction, turn-taking or shared experiences with adults. For example, playing games like peek-a-boo, singing "Pat-A-Cake" and sand play can also be a fun opportunities for shared experiences.
Play is proven to be effective in helping children develop self-regulation. To sustain play, children must act deliberately, inhibiting behaviour that is not part of the specific role. Such inhibiting action helps support the development of intentional behaviour. Play that involves interactions with adults allows children to learn how to regulate from the caregivers, like how to wait and take turns. Elkonin, D,B., Psychologija Igry (The Psychology of Play). 2005a. preface to “The Psychology of Play” (Ot avtora: biografia issledovanni), trans. Lydia Razran Stone. Journal of Russian and East European Psychology 43:11- 21. (Level III) Bodrova, E., Germeroth, C., & Leong, D.J. (2013). “Play and Self-Regulation: Lessons from Vygotsky.” American Journal of Play 6:111–23. (Level III) Karreman, A., van Tuijl, C., van Aken, M. A. G., & Dekovic, M. (2006). Parenting and Self-Regulation in Preschoolers: A Meta-Analysis. Infant and Child Development, 15(6), 561–579. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=eric&AN=EJ958131&site=ehost-live (Level I)
Positive parenting practices can have an impact on the development of a child’s self-regulation abilities. Parents who are responsive to a child’s moods and emotional states help develop self-regulation. During play, parental use of positive controlling strategies, such as directiveness with low to moderate power assertion, guidance and instruction, was positively related to self-regulation. Conversely, negative controlling strategies, such as power assertive, limit-setting activities and coercive behaviours, were negatively associated with self-regulation. Karreman, A., van Tuijl, C., van Aken, M. A. G., & Dekovic, M. (2006). Parenting and Self-Regulation in Preschoolers: A Meta-Analysis. Infant and Child Development, 15(6), 561–579. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=eric&AN=EJ958131&site=ehost-live (Level I) Grolnick, W. S., & Farkas, M. (2002). Parenting and the development of children’s self regulation. In M. H. Bornstein (Ed.), Handbook of parenting: Vol. 5. Practical issues (2nd ed.,pp. 89–110). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. (Level III)
Talking about what you are doing helps children develop language abilities to describe their experiences. Developing a child’s language abilities can help promote self-regulation. Research has shown that improved language ability could promote the development of self-regulation for several biological reasons.
First, motor and language systems are closely linked in brain activation patterns and their development. Processing action-related language activates motor and premotor cortices. Lee HJ, Kang E, Oh S-H, Kang H, Soo Lee D, Lee MC, Kim C-S. Preoperative differences of cerebral metabolism relate to the outcome of cochlear implants in congenitally deaf children. Hearing Research. 2005;203:2–9. Pisoni DB, Conway CM, Kronenberger WG, Horn DL, Karpicke J, Henning SC. (2008). Efficacy and effectiveness of cochlear implants in deaf children. In: Marschark M, Hauser PC, editors. Deaf cognition: Foundations and outcomes. Perspectives on deafness. New York, NY, US: Oxford University Press. pp. 52–101. Petersen, I. T., Bates, J. E., & Staples, A. D. (2015). The role of language ability and self-regulation in the development of inattentive-hyperactive behaviour problems. Development and psychopathology, 27(1), 221–237. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0954579414000698
Vygotsky’s theoretical framework, central to current research on self-regulation, identifies a child’s emerging language acquisition as a vital force in the development of self-regulatory skills. Researchers found that the growing mastery of language leads to the emergence of private speech where children talk to themselves to guide their thinking about what they should do. Private speech helps younger children move from other-regulation to self-regulation.