According to specialists, technology has a lot to do with children becoming more impatient.
The internet came to change forever the speed at which we communicate. Access to information quickly meets our needs, but it has also made us less tolerant and more demanding. In this fast-paced world, how can we teach children to be patient? This has to do with tolerance to frustration, explains Patricia de la Fuente, Director of Educational Services for Child Development (SEDI) who mentions that this task is increasingly representing a greater challenge for parents. The secret is to learn to delay the reward.
Let us remember that children have to develop the ability to tolerate frustration, as a fundamental tool within their store of socio-emotional skills, which they will use throughout their childhood and throughout the rest of their adult life. Then the specialist suggests the following strategies to develop patience in children:
1. One of the first steps is to be a good model of patience and tolerance, remember that children learn from examples. When we are faced with a circumstance that can lead to impatience, we must ask ourselves: How would I like my child to face this situation as an adult? Then verbalize to the child:? I am getting angry about what is happening … I will breathe several times before acting to calm down. “In this way the child will learn to act rationally, reflecting self-control and calm.
2. It is also recommended to use phrases such as “I wait for you, is there no rush?”. One way to be an example of patience is the fact of not putting pressure on the child himself unnecessarily. Let’s remember that if we ask for things? consistent with the patience model that we want to project in front of the child. It is important to give the child the necessary time to issue a response according to the circumstances and without necessarily the response time being the most important. Calm and reflection must have always a priority.
3. We should not reward impatience by responding with our attention to screams and tantrums, which are the first signs of a lack of tolerance for frustration on the part of children, by not receiving immediate gratification or satisfaction. We must explain to the child that everything takes time and often involves waiting for a turn, so he cannot have what he wants at the right time when he asks for it. Conversely, if dads give in to their behavior, it will be a sign to their child that their inappropriate behavior is a way to manipulate them to get what they want.
4. A practical way to show them that each process takes time is to invite them to observe natural phenomena such as the growth of a plant or the germination of a seed, for example. In this way, they will be able to identify that the processes have a natural course and that it is not always possible to force or rush them, so you have to know how to wait and have patience. Stories are also a good tool to exemplify how characters have to wait to get something.
5. Use the sequence of events to help them understand the times when deadlines have to be met, for example? When the song you are playing is finished, we can put the melody you want to hear ?. “As soon as your friend stops using the trike, you can have a turn.”
6. The coexistence between children will help them to mature their socio-emotional skills. During the first days of school coexistence, there may be cases in which they may not be able to coexist with their classmates, but little by little they will learn to moderate their impulses, wait for turns and understand that all classmates have the same rights. Board games are excellent tools for learning to take turns, practicing tolerance to frustration and knowing how to act positively and constructively when losing and/or winning.
The children who are more patient, can adapt much more easily to any school context, hence the importance of teaching that in life you have to learn to wait though this can be very frustrating sometimes, and know postpone satisfaction our wishes and wait for the rewards.