Developing Executive Function Skills as a Precursor to Academic Success

When our children were preschool and elementary age, we spent our summer vacations visiting their out-of-state grandparents. My family lived on a farm in Indiana; Roy’s family lived an hour from the Jersey Shore. These two destinations provided various experiences for our children along with rich times of engagement with their grands, aunts, uncles, and cousins.A day or two prior to our departure, I visited the Dollar Store to stock up on a few items which provided the much-needed help in entertaining our young children during those lengthy car rides. Can you imagine a 12 and 17-hour car-ride without a screen for entertainment? How did we survive?! Well, it caused me to be creative and thoughtful in my planning. I recall as if it were yesterday: every hour, I would pull out something new from the bag of dollar goodies!  Multiple alphabet games were played along with games that identified colors and makes of cars. Reading lengthy stories or listening to books on tape was also a favorite past-time.The anticipation of what would be pulled from the bag of goodies was delightful! As I recall, a hand-held pinball game was a competitive favorite. What brain skill did this mom need in order to be successful as the entertainment committee of one?  It was the skill of executive functioning, and it is an important skill for children to develop. Executive functioning is the part of the brain responsible for the following skills: planning, organizing, managing time, and paying attention.Now, I want to focus on the skills of planning and organizing as they relate to child-rearing. When we plan and organize it uses the part of the brain responsible for executive functioning, and that is an important part of school-life. How can you enhance your child’s ability to plan and organize?  I would suggest that day to day activities such as sorting socks and clothes - following through with placing them in dresser drawers, organizing and putting away toys, practicing the art of following through on 3-step directions, giving time parameters on activities, and requiring the responsibility for daily chores are activities that develop this part of the brain.  I recently read an article that surprised me. It stated that the executive functioning skills are developed most rapidly between the ages of three and five and then again during the adolescent years.  What does this inform you about the importance of preschool?Consequently, as you begin to plan your activities for summer and your summer vacation, include your preschoolers. If you go to the beach, discuss the necessary items to take: clothes, beach chairs, sand toys, sunscreen, and so forth. Camping requires much preplanning! Involve your children. Let them tell you what they want to pack and why. Gallon zip-lock bags or the fancy packing cube sets are a great organizational tool for packing clothing. Please resist the urge to do all the thinking for them! Yes, it will take longer, but it is an investment into your child’s ability to develop skills that will transfer to school-life. Solely my hunch and not related to research is this: I believe the immediate access to mobile devices has impaired our ability to plan ahead and perhaps has delayed the development of the pre-frontal cortex, which is the area of the brain responsible for organization and planning. We plan on the fly and pivot on a dime. While that has its benefits (flexibility is good!), I wonder about the down-side. In order to compensate, make sure to allow your children to hone their planning and organizational skills this summer and even you, dear parent, will benefit!