than to open a gift. Learning to persist in complex learning
tasks that stretch children’s skills is one of the most important
outcomes of healthy self-regulation. To regulate various
arousal levels, children must recognize when arousal is
not optimal and take steps to modify it. Children often do
this by squirming or looking away (such as out a window or
at other children’s activity)
to arouse fading attention,
or by withdrawing from others
to reduce high physical
or emotional arousal.