Looking both ways when crossing the street, using the potty, putting toys away after playing with them — these are all great habit loops to cultivate in your child.
The inner workings of a small child’s brain can seem pretty darn mysterious sometimes. One day, they’ll make great progress. The next things look like they’re back to square one (usually complete with a temper tantrum and the word NO!). That back and forth dance can be frustrating to say the least! Happily, there are simple tricks you can start using today that will help your child adopt positive, new habits more quickly.
But first, let’s get clear on exactly what you’re doing when you cultivate new habits in your child.
A habit is nothing more than a shortcut for your brain. It’s a process loop (physical or emotional) that chunks down a complex task and runs it on a fraction of brainpower. Without habits, our brains would literally shut down, overloaded by the minute of life. Your adult brain runs hundreds of habit loops each day, from making your bed to packing lunches and driving to work. Those loops free it up to focus on really important things, like getting food on the table, learning new skills, and inventing new things.
The more good habits you can help your child develop, the smoother their sailing as they get older. Here are 6 tricks you can employ to improve (and speed up) the habit forming process.
What good habits have you instilled in your child? What tricks have you used that work? What habit do you WISH they’d learn more quickly?