Self-regulation refers to several complicated processes that allow children to appropriately respond to their environment (Bronson 2000). In many ways, human self-regulation is
like a thermostat. A thermostat senses and measures tem- perature, and compares its reading to a preset threshold (Derryberry & Reed 1996). When the reading passes the threshold, the thermostat turns either a heating or cooling
system on or off. Similarly, children must learn to evaluate
what they see, hear, touch, taste, and smell, and compare