Self-control is an important skill to develop in children.
Those who are able to focus on complex tasks from an early age, restrain their impulses, as a rule, have a stable job in the future and spend 40% less time looking for it than other job seekers. This relationship – between self-control and success in life – is especially evident in years of crisis, when the unemployment rate increases several times.1. “There is a popular idea among psychologists and parents that success depends primarily on positive self-esteem,” comments psychologist Roy Baumeister, one of the authors of the study, which involved 15 schoolchildren. “However, we now know that self-control is more important. Thanks to him, children become more emotionally stable, easier than others to endure stress and stick to their plans. But the desire of parents at all costs to maintain a child’s positive self-esteem can lead to a decrease in motivation and dependence on the opinions of others.
1. Psychological Science, online publication April 13, 2015.