孩子的自制力決定未來成功與否大綱

Niklas Capps gets ready for recess at Clara Barton Center for Children in Cabin John, Md., Feb. 11. Teachers at the school focus on promoting self-control.
2月11日，尼格拉斯·卡普斯準備在馬裏蘭州卡班·約翰的克拉拉·巴頓兒童中心休假。學校的老師們正在致力於提高孩子們的自我控制能力。

Self-control keeps us from eating a whole bag of chips or from running up the credit card. A new study says that self-control makes the difference between getting a good job or going to jail — and we learn it in preschool.
自我控制能力防止我們吃掉一整袋的薯條或者把信用卡刷爆。一項新研究指出，我們在學齡前學習的自我控制能力決定了將來是得到一份好工作還是去坐牢。

"Children who had the greatest self-control in primary school and preschool ages were most likely to have fewer health problems when they reached their 30s," says Terrie Moffitt, a professor of psychology at Duke University and King's College London.
“在小學和學前年齡時就具有極佳自控能力的孩子們非常可能在三十多歲時的健康問題較少。”，杜克大學和倫敦大學國王學院的心理學教授泰利·莫菲特說。

Moffitt and a team of researchers studied a group of 1,000 people born in New Zealand in 1972 and 1973, tracking them from birth to age 32. The new study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, is the best evidence yet on the payoff for learning self-discipline early on.
莫菲特和一組研究人員研究了1972年和1973年在新西蘭出生的1000人，從出生跟蹤他們直到三十二歲。發表在美國國家科學院學報上的這項新研究，是因早早學習自律而收益的最好證據。

The researchers define self-control as having skills like conscientiousness, self-discipline and perseverance, as well as being able to consider the consequences of actions in making decisions.
研究人員將自我控制能力定義爲自我覺悟、自我約束和毅力，以及能夠在決策中考慮行動的後果。

The children who struggled with self-control as preschoolers were three times as likely to have problems as young adults. They were more prone to have a criminal record; more likely to be poor or have financial problems; and they were more likely to be single parents.
在學齡前無法自控的兒童出問題的機率是成年後無法自控的人的三倍。他們更容易有犯罪紀錄，貧窮或有經濟困難的可能性更大，更有可能成爲單親家長。

This study doesn't prove that the lack of self-control in childhood caused these problems, but the large size of the study, and the fact that it followed one group of people over many years, makes a good case for an effect.
本研究並不能證明自童年缺乏自我控制能力就會造成這些問題，但這項研究規模之大以及多年來追蹤一組人的事實，是一個效果很好的例子。

Teaching Control
教習自制

Economists and public health officials want to know whether teaching self-control could improve a population's physical and financial health and reduce crime. Three factors appear to be key to a person's success in life: intelligence, family's socioeconomic status and self-control. Moffitt's study found that self-control predicted adult success, even after accounting for the participants' differences in social status and IQ.
經濟學家和公共衛生官員希望知道是否教習自我控制能提高人們物質和財政的健康並且減少犯罪。三個因素可能是成功的關鍵：智力、家庭的社會經濟地位和自我控制能力。莫菲特的研究發現，即使參與者具有不同的社會地位和智商，自我控制能力預示了成年時的成功。

Cathie Morton, a teacher at the Clara Barton Center for Children, leads the kids in a clapping exercise to signal that it is time to shift gears and start cleaning up.

凱西·莫頓是克拉拉·巴頓兒童中心的老師，他以拍掌爲信號，教孩子們改變節目並開始清理場地。

IQ and social status are hard to change. But Moffitt says there is evidence that self-control can be learned.
智商和社會地位很難改變。但莫菲特說，有證據表明，自我控制可以習得。

"Identical twins are not identical on self-control," she says. "That tells us that it is something they have learned, not something they have inherited."
“同卵雙胞胎的自我控制能力並不一樣，”她說，“這告訴我們，這是他們學到的東西，而不是遺傳來的。”

Teaching self-control has become a big focus for early childhood education. At the Clara Barton Center for Children in Cabin John, Md., it starts with expecting a 4-year-old to hang up her coat without being asked.
教習自我控制已經成爲幼兒教育的一大焦點。馬里蘭州卡班·約翰的克拉拉·巴頓兒童中心從教4歲的孩子自覺自動的掛起外套開始。

Director Linda Owen says the children are expected to be responsible for a series of actions when they arrive at school each morning, without help from Mom and Dad. The children sign in, put away their lunches, hang up their own clothes, wash their hands before they can play, and then choose activities in the classroom.
董事長琳達·歐文說，每天早晨到校後，孩子們應該不在父母的幫助下對自己的一系列行爲負責。孩子們簽到，收起午餐，掛上衣服，洗手，之後纔可以玩耍，然後選擇課堂活動。

"All those things help with self-management," Owen says.
“所有這些都有助於自我管理，”歐文說。Mediating Conflict
調解衝突

Of course, not all 4-year-olds are ready to manage that, so the classroom is loaded with cues and clues to help the preschoolers make their own decisions and be responsible.
當然，並非所有4歲的孩子都能夠做到這些，所以教室裏到處是幫助學齡前兒童作出自己的決定並負責的暗示和線索。

Liya Pomfret and Rowan Miller demonstrate how they use the "solutions kit" to resolve conflicts.

麗雅·龐弗雷特及羅文·米勒展示了他們如何使用“解決方案工具包”來解決衝突。

A series of seven photos over the sink shows the correct sequence for hand washing. A "solutions kit" poster shows techniques the children can use to resolve disagreements themselves, like sharing or playing with another toy. The two teachers give the children multiple cues when it's time to clean up: Lights flash, a bell rings and the children clap and count to 100. That makes it easier to switch gears without a meltdown.
水槽底一系列的七張照片顯示了洗手的正確順序。一個“解決方案工具包”海報顯示了孩子可以利用它獨立解決分歧的技巧，比如與他人分享或者玩其他玩具。到打掃的時間的時候，兩位老師會給孩子們多個提示：閃燈、鈴聲、孩子們鼓掌並數到100。這使得變換活動更容易，而且不會亂套。1

If a child has problems with self-management, the teachers make a customized "visual cue" card, with photos of the four play choices in the room, to make the decision easier.
如果孩子不能自我管理，老師在房間裏掛上四種遊戲選擇做的照片作爲特定的“視覺提示”牌幫助他們更容易地做出決定。

And teachers Cathie Morton and Daniela Capbert don't just supervise — they're in the thick of the children's play so that when the inevitable conflicts arise, they can redirect the children into other activities or help them talk through their feelings.
像凱西·莫頓和丹尼拉·凱普貝爾特不只是監督——他們也會參與到兒童遊戲中，當不可避免的衝突發生時，他們可以讓孩子們做其他活動，或幫助孩子通過交談交流感受。

When things do go wrong, there are consequences. Timeouts and apologies don't mean much to children at this age, Owen says, so the teachers try to match consequences to the deed. When one of the children accidentally knocks over a 2-foot-tall tower of blocks that several children had spent half the morning building, the teachers ask the builders what should happen next. "Help fix it," one boy says. And, with a little prompting from the adults, they all pitch in and rebuild.
事情做錯了，必然會有後果。罰坐冷板凳和道歉對這個年齡段的兒童並不是很重要，歐文說，因此老師會嘗試匹配行爲後果。當一個孩子意外地碰倒幾個孩子花了半個上午才搭建的兩英尺高的積木時，老師問搭積木的孩子們下一步會發生什麼。“幫助修復它，”一個男孩說。而且，成人給他們一些鼓勵後，孩子們都開始加入重新搭建。2

Self-Control At Home
在家自制

Parents can help their children learn self-control. Mary Alvord is a clinical psychologist in Silver Spring, Md., whose new book, Resilience Builder Program for Children and Adolescents, teaches self-control strategies. Take small steps, she says. For example, preschoolers can learn that they don't always get what they want immediately; they may need to wait for that treat.
家長可以幫助孩子學會自我控制。瑪麗·阿爾沃德馬里蘭州銀泉的一位臨牀心理醫生，她的新書《兒童和青少年韌性培養計劃》教導自我控制策略。採取小步驟，她說，例如，幼兒可以知道他們並不總是立即就能得到想要的東西，他們可能需要等待飯菜。

"I call it Grandma's rule," Alvord says. "No dessert until you finish your dinner."
“我稱之爲奶奶的法則，”阿爾沃德說，“用完晚餐前不會有甜點。”

Parents can help teenagers learn self-control by making sure the family has clear rules for things like curfew or finishing homework before they have screen time. Teenager who have problems with impulsivity may benefit from special driving classes that let them practice controlling the car in difficult conditions on a racetrack. For all teens, clear rules such as curfews help them regulate themselves.
通過確定家庭對某些事有明確的規定，比如宵禁令或者完成作業後才能看電視，父母可以幫助青少年學習自我控制。那些容易衝動的少年有可能會受益於特殊駕駛課程，讓他們練習在困難的條件下控制賽道上的車。對於所有的青少年來說，像宵禁這樣明確的規定可以幫助他們自律。

Though self-control can be improved throughout life, Moffitt says the earlier children can learn these skills of self-discipline and perseverance, the better. "The later you wait in life to try to learn self-control skills, the more problems you have to reverse and overcome."
雖然自制能力的學習提高貫穿於整個人生，莫菲特說，兒童學習自律和毅力的技巧越早越好。“在生活中嘗試學習自我控制能力拖得越晚，要扭轉和克服的問題越多。”

All the more reason to start picking up blocks when you're very young.
所以，在你還小時，更要撿起那積木。