Self-regulation skills develop gradually, so it is important
that adults hold developmentally appropriate expectations
for children’s behavior. Vygotsky called the range of developmentally
appropriate expectations the zone of proximal
development (ZPD) (John-Steiner & Mahn 1996). The ZPD is
the “growing edge of competence” (Bronson 2000, 20) and
represents those skills a child is ready to learn. Expecting
children to demonstrate skills outside the ZPD is ineffective
and often detrimental. Punishing young children when they
fail to sustain attention longer than a few minutes or fail to
calm themselves quickly when frustrated does nothing to
help them learn self-regulation. Likewise, failing to provide
challenging opportunities for children to advance their
skills can hinder their growth.