<p>I just heard a report about some research done on children and how their play time has changed over the years. Toddlers and children have much more structured play time now than they did 20 years ago. One of the problems with this is that when they are playing by themselves, they have to figure out what to do on their own. They talk to themselves a lot when doing this. This helps them to get better and self-control. One study had researchers ask kids of ages 3, 5, and 7 to stand still. The 3-year-olds couldn't really do it. The 5-year-olds could do it a few minutes. The 7-year-olds could do it as long as the researches wanted. That was 20 years ago. The repeated it now, and the groups had regressed to the level of the younger group of 20 years ago. That is, the 5-year-olds could not stand still and the 7-year-olds could only do it for a few minutes.</p>
<p>Self-control is a big predictor for success in school. The part of the mind responsible for it is called the Executive Brain. It is ironic that in trying to get kids to do better in school, we may be eliminating the time in their lives when they are actually best preparing themselves.</p>