Core Life Skills

What skills will your child need to succeed in the 21st century?

According to Harvard University, the most crucial skills are self-regulation and executive function.

Executive function, in its simplest form, refers to the mental processes needed to develop the skills necessary to solve problems effectively at the right time.

Executive function occurs when three key elements come together:

1. Working memory
2. Inhibitory control
3. Cognitive flexibility

The optimal age to develop these skills is between 3 and 8 years. It’s essential for every parent to understand what these skills are and how to integrate them into their child’s life.

Self-Regulation

Self-regulation is one of the most important skills in life. Studies by Harvard University emphasize that self-regulation, along with executive function, is essential for thriving in the 21st century. Self-regulation involves controlling emotions, impulses, and behavior, often referred to as “willpower” and “self-control.”

Self-regulation is supported by three interconnected areas:

1. Cognitive regulation
2. Emotional regulation
3. Behavioral regulation

While these areas are conceptualized separately, they are closely related, and it can be difficult to distinguish between them when assessing self-regulation in children.

Understanding the complexity of self-regulation highlights the importance of parental support in helping children develop these skills.

Executive Function and Self-Regulation

Executive function and self-regulation are the mental processes that enable us to focus, remember instructions, plan, and successfully manage multiple tasks. Similar to how an air traffic control system manages the movement of planes on various runways, our brain uses these skills to handle distractions, prioritize tasks, and achieve goals.

Children need opportunities to develop executive functioning and self-regulation as these skills provide long-term benefits for both individuals and society. These abilities are critical for learning, positive behavior, and healthy decision-making for ourselves and our families. While children are not born with these skills, they are born with the potential to develop them. However, if they do not receive the necessary support from adults or grow up in unfavorable environments, such as those with neglect, abuse, or violence, their development of these skills may be delayed or impaired.

Childhood Development of Executive Function

Basic executive functions like inhibitory control and working memory form the foundation for more complex functions, such as problem-solving. Research shows early signs of these skills in infants between 7 and 12 months old, as inhibitory control and working memory are the first executive functions to emerge.

During the preschool years (ages 3-5), children typically show a surge in inhibition and working memory tasks. This is when cognitive flexibility, goal-directed behavior, and planning start to develop. However, preschoolers do not have fully developed executive capacities, so mistakes related to these emerging skills are common. These errors are often not due to a lack of ability but rather a lack of understanding about when and how to apply specific strategies in different situations.

Adolescent Development of Executive Function

Development of executive function does not occur in a straight line. Growth in these skills continues into adolescence, with certain domains maturing at different times. Pre-adolescents (ages 8-12) show growth spurts in executive functions, including:

• Verbal working memory
• Goal-directed behavior (which peaks around age 12)
• Response inhibition
• Selective attention
• Strategic planning
• Organizational skills

Between the ages of 8 and 10, cognitive flexibility reaches adult levels. However, during adolescence, executive functioning is still limited, as these functions do not always work effectively in every context due to developing attentional control.

Adolescent Growth in Executive Function

Although many executive functions, such as attentional control, begin to develop in infancy, the brain becomes better integrated during adolescence. Teenagers become more efficient at using executive functions, like impulse control, throughout this stage. This period sees the refinement of planning and goal-directed behavior, which continues to mature over time.

By age 15, functions like attention span and working memory see another leap in development.

Adult Development of Executive Function

The main change in the brain during adulthood is the myelination of neurons in the prefrontal cortex. Executive function skills peak between the ages of 20 and 29, during which people are capable of tackling the most challenging mental tasks. After this peak, these abilities gradually begin to decline. Working memory and spatial span are usually the first areas to decline, while cognitive flexibility remains strong until about age 70 in normally functioning adults.

The first noticeable sign of functional decline in older adults is often a reduction in executive function.