Environment and genetics have an important role in how executive function skills or cognitive skills can be further developed in children.
In addition, the family environment also has an important role to be able to practice these skills, especially when children are toddlers.
In addition to these factors, as reported by parenting.firstcry.com, gender and age also play an important role in the development of children’s executive functions.
Mom and Dad must also be able to be wise to children so that their skills can continue to improve.
Here Thevolume.net has summarized the development of executive function skills for children aged 1-5 years.
1-year-old child
Children around the age of 12-18 months are starting to show signs of selective attention, but external distractions may not be too dominant at this stage.
Children will focus more on expressing their goals after they are over 18 months old. By then he had begun to slowly say what he wanted.
Child 2 years
As children acquire language skills at age 2, their problem solving improves and they begin to use language to regulate their behavior.
Not only managing himself, but a 2-year-old child also begins to be able to manage his brother, sister, and even his parents through the words he speaks.
At this stage, the child also learns to follow directions, rules, and verbal requests.
It is important for parents to enrich their children’s vocabulary through daily communication so that children know the meaning of a conversation.
3-year-old son
At this age, children may no longer respond impulsively but are more flexible and communication is intentional. The child begins to recognize a conscious plan in his mind.
It is important for parents to help children develop what is going around in the child’s minds. Help children to realize an idea.
For example, the child wants to build a castle out of blankets and pillows. So what parents can do is accompany and help him.
Let children be creative but still under parental supervision.
Child 4 years old
At 4 years of age, children show substantial improvements in their memory and work inhibition.
Children can ask for something in detail, even if everything is very clear.
For example, “I want to make a strawberry cake, it has chocolate on it and it tastes sweet. I want Mom to make it instead of buying it at the cake shop.“
When Mom was surprised to hear the request, Mom tried to divert it. For example, by saying, “Wow, of course, Mom will make it but not today.“
Then the 4-year-old child can sharpen his desire so that it can actually be carried out as expected. They might ask, “When are you going to make a chocolate strawberry cake for me?“
Mom needs to clarify everything by answering the time. “This will be a special cake, you can get on your 5th birthday.“
Children will feel calm with specific answers from the other person.
5-year-olds
5-year-olds are better able to develop a more complex set of rules to regulate or guide their actions and behavior.
Instead of simply responding, children may begin to think about the intention to perform the action.
Children of 5 years can also be invited to do something in groups. He began to like to cooperate with other people.
As children grow, they continue to develop more control over their attentional and inhibitory abilities. Children must be able to control themselves so as not to become impulsive children.
However, during the toddler years, the main change that occurs is their ability to consider variables and then act according to what they think is the main thing.
To practice it, avoid yelling at children when they take the initiative to do something. It could be that what the child does has been planned in advance. Make a positive reaction to the success that has been done by the child.
