Barbara Wilder-Smith, Elena Bodrova, and Deborah J. Leong

While many skills help children transition smoothly from preschool to kindergarten, self-regulation, or the ability to manage one’ s own emotions, thoughts, and actions, ranks as one of the most important. Many kindergarten teachers highly value children’ s ability to self-regulate, even more so than knowing letters or number concepts. Self-regulation is also a key component of developmentally appropriate practice: Besides teaching content knowledge and skills, early childhood educators are responsible for supporting children’ s development of self-regulation. Children who can regulate their behavior are better able to participate in their learning communities, make friends, grasp concepts, and succeed in both school and life. Indeed, research shows that a child’ s ability to self-regulate in the early years is a stronger predictor of later success in reading and math than even IQ scores.

Self-regulation development begins in infancy, spans the early childhood years, and continues all the way through adolescence and young adulthood. Within a learning environment that has consistent and appropriate rules and routines, adults play an important role in nurturing children’ s self-regulation. It’ s built

Spring 2026 Educating Young Children 21