Have you heard of executive functioning? Executive functioning skills are life skills children need, but what are they? Executive functioning skills are the “soft” skills that people develop as children. These skills are conducive to daily life and activities, relationships, problem-solving, and more. Many people, like people with ADHD, struggle with executive functioning skills even as adults, especially if they don’t have proper support as children.
We’re here to talk about a few common executive function skills that your child should start developing from toddlerhood. Read on to learn more.
1. Task Initiation
Task initiation is one of the most difficult executive functioning skills for children, especially children who have ADHD or autism spectrum disorder.
Task initiation is the ability to start a necessary task. It also relates to the ability to independently form thoughts and ideas and set a plan into action.
In their early years, children start to develop this skill through parents and caregivers. Parents and caregivers motivate children to start things (like cleaning their rooms).
It’s helpful to provide some form of reward for children who initiate their own tasks (even if they needed help). This will associate task initiation with something positive and encourage children to initiate tasks on their own in the future.
By adulthood, neurotypical people should be able to initiate tasks even despite distractions or non-ideal conditions. Not being able to initiate tasks will cause children and adults to struggle at work or at school.
2. Time Management
Once the task is initiated, children need to understand time management. Again, this is particularly difficult for neurodivergent children, but all children struggle with it at first.
Children often struggle to understand the passage of time overall. Learning to use that time in an effective way is a challenge for them.
Parents and caregivers can help children develop time management skills by creating structure and schedules for them. Their schedules should be broken down into individual tasks and activities. Make the tasks as small as possible (for example, you’d list out every step of making the bed).
Over time, children will learn how much time a specific task or activity will take. They’ll be able to manage their own time so they’re able to get everything done.
3. Impulse Control
Children aren’t born with impulse control. They learn this crucial executive function over time through natural consequences and guidance from trusted adults.
Toddlers and young children require near-constant supervision when they’re in environments with safety hazards. They learn early on that hot stoves, roads, and stinging insects are dangerous and that they should be avoided.
As children get older, they’re able to remember those hazards and avoid them without supervision. While older children (and even adults) partake in risky activities, they calculate those risks to determine whether or not the activity is worthwhile.
4. Emotional Control
Emotional control is similar to impulse control. Children don’t yet have the ability to regulate their emotions or read the emotions of others. This leads to lashing out, temper tantrums, hitting, and other types of “unacceptable” behaviors.
Through proper guidance from parents and caregivers, children learn how to understand their own emotions and display them in healthy ways. They can talk through their problems, try coping mechanisms, and express themselves through physical or creative outlets.
Young children have a hard time self-soothing. They rely on the trusted adults in their lives to provide them with emotional support. While people continue to need emotional support well into adulthood, they learn to regulate themselves and work through their issues as well.
5. Organization
Children and adults alike struggle with organization, but it’s actually one of the most crucial executive functioning skills for young children. They’re going to need to be able to stay organized as soon as they enter grade school (though they will have help), so building this skill early on is necessary.
Preschool will teach basic organizational skills to children, but you can also help your child learn to stay organized at home.
Make sure that your child’s closet is accessible for them. All hangers, shelves, and drawers should be at eye level or within reach. Label each shelf, drawer, and hanger so your child can learn where things go.
If your child isn’t yet reading, you can use a color system instead. For example, shirts may go into blue drawers while socks go into green drawers.
Reward your child for good organization and explain the natural consequences of poor organization: not being able to find things and taking longer to put them away.
6. Planning and Foresight
When children are young, they don’t yet have the ability to plan or think ahead. The ability to “live in the moment” is a blessing, but it becomes problematic when a child is in school.
The child should learn how to foresee tasks and events in the future and make room for them. This goes alongside time management.
Learning how to plan also allows children to complete more complex tasks with multiple steps.
7. Flexibility
Children need structure and routine in order to thrive, but they also need to stay flexible. If you have a child, you know that a simple change in routine can result in a serious meltdown. This is because your child hasn’t developed the flexibility required to tolerate those changes.
As children go through preschool, they learn how to tolerate unexpected events and changes so that they don’t result in emotional distress.
8. Problem-Solving
Children can be adept problem-solvers if they’re given the right resources, but it’s a skill that takes time to develop.
Many parents make the mistake of trying to solve all of their children’s problems for them. While your children will need help from time to time, they’re more capable than you think.
Children learn problem-solving skills through imaginative play, standard cause-and-effect, and preschool classes. They engage with peers and work together to overcome simple obstacles.
These Are Life Skills Children Need
These executive function skills are actually life skills children need in order to thrive and turn into happy and productive adults. Children learn many of these skills on their own, but at-home support paired with a good preschool will help them learn more effectively.
Are you ready to enroll your child in preschool? At The Learning Experience, we aim to help every child reach their full potential. Find a TLE center in your area to ask about enrollment today or visit here if you are in the Long Island City area.
The Learning Experience – Long Island City
27 – 28 Thomson Ave
Long Island City, NY 11101
(718) 433-4007
https://thelearningexperience.com/center/long-island-city/
