The early years of a child’s life are the most important in terms of their general well-being, their emotional and social development, and their physical, intellectual and emotional growth. Children develop at different paces and a very high proportion of what they learn takes place in the first five to seven years of life. What happens in the home is extremely important to development in early childhood. There is also a growing perception that this is a time when children are most open to high quality care and learning experiences. Children’s development of emotional self-regulation is important for many aspects of their health and wellbeing, including their ability to tolerate frustration, curbs aggressive impulses, delay gratification, and express emotions in socially acceptable ways. Children who are able to regulate their own emotions are better able to interact with their peers, whereas poor emotion regulation in preschool-aged children has been related to higher levels of externalizing behaviors.
