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Crossing the Glass Wall: Using Preschool Educators’ Knowledge to Enhance Parental Understanding of Children’s Self-Regulation and Emotion Regulation

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Abstract

This phenomenological research investigated what fifteen preschool educators have come to know about children’s self-regulation and emotion regulation development, and how we can better enable them to communicate with parents about their children’s development. The data sources included over 100 pages of transcripts, field notes and journal entries for three focus groups. Using these multiple data sources, the researcher applied the seven steps of the phenomenological analysis (Moustakas in Phenomenological research methods. Sage, Thousand Oaks, 1994) to derive a composite structural description of children’s self-regulation and emotion regulation development. This research study found a consistent conceptual view of self-regulation and emotion regulation across these preschool educators. The implications from these findings provide educators with knowledge about self-regulation and emotion regulation to facilitate communicating with parents about realistic expectations and goals for children’s self-regulation and emotion regulation.

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Acknowledgments

I would like to thank the Human Early Learning Partnership and the Social Sciences and Human Research Council of Canada for funding this research. I would also like to acknowledge my research affiliation with the Centre for Youth and Society at the University of Victoria, BC, Canada. Thank you E.C.E.’s. for warmly nurturing early emotion and self-regulation acquisition.

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Correspondence to Wanda Boyer.

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Boyer, W. Crossing the Glass Wall: Using Preschool Educators’ Knowledge to Enhance Parental Understanding of Children’s Self-Regulation and Emotion Regulation. Early Childhood Educ J 37, 175–182 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10643-009-0343-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10643-009-0343-y

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