unavailable for hitting). Although children’s behavior is regulated by many processes that function outside their awareness, researchers have found children’s intentional self-regulation predicts school success (Zimmerman
1994). When provided with appropriate opportunities, young children can and do learn intentional self-regula- tion. Researchers Elena Bodrova and Deborah Leong, for example, taught preschoolers to plan their play activities and found planning helped children develop stronger self- regulation skills (Bodrova & Leong 2007). Planning is an important part of self-regulation. Teachers might suggest
that children sit on their hands to remind themselves to not hit or touch another child. To use this practice, children must think about potential future actions and then imagine and enact alternative behaviors.
Finally, just as a thermostat monitors conditions to main- tain optimal temperature, self-regulation monitors condi- tions to maintain optimal arousal for a given task (Blair & Diamond 2008). Everyone experiences peaks and lows in levels of attention, emotion, and motivation. As children develop, they learn that some activities require them to
pay attention more (that is, the activities require increased attentional arousal). For example, children need more attentional arousal to watch a play than to chase a friend. The same is true for motivational arousal. Children need to
“wake up” motivation more to stick with a challenging task