It’s one month into the school year and as I look out at my kindergarten class I can tell you the ones that have trouble sitting in their desks and whose attention is sixty percent of the time on anything but me. These are the kids that are in need of some extra attention in the form of direction, discipline, or medication. According to researchers from the Université de Montréal and the Saint-Justine University Research Center these are also the kids that we should be monitoring for a possible gambling addiction. Wait! Did I hear that right? We are monitoring kids for gambling addictions in Kindergarten!
This study presented links between children who showed impulsive behavior in Kindergarten, and then were later checked on in six years later to be found spending time playing cards for money, placing bets on sports, among other things. The study however did not say if the children where participating in any other negative behaviors such as drinking, drugs, sex, or vandalism. The main stressed point was that the five year olds with impulsivity problems had a twenty five percent increased risk of a gambling addiction later in life.
Don’t break down and start panic just yet if your child is making impulsive decisions. You can still save them. The intervention needs to take place before they turn seven when their frontal lobe is growing. The frontal lobe is responsible for cognitive behavior so their future problems need to be fixed now. Researchers suggest teaching your impulsive child the, “Stop, Look, and Listen” routine. This can help your child stop what they are doing, look around their environment, and listen in order to calm themselves into making a more intelligible decision. Also modeling good intelligible decision making will help your child.
Personally, I laughed when I read this article. I envisioned myself calling a parent in for a special meeting and then telling them that I am fearful that their child might develop a possible gambling addiction and that we need to take action now. Yes, I agree that children in Kindergarten are developing and we need to be modeling appropriate behaviors and trying to correct their impulsive behavior now so that it does not become a problem for them in the future but we are not doctors and some kids no matter what we do are going to have attention issues down the road. I don’t believe just because a child can not pay attention and is easily distracted they will be a future gambler. I do believe they might have a more likely chance to dabble in a variety of negative behaviors but not just gambling.
This study presented links between children who showed impulsive behavior in Kindergarten, and then were later checked on in six years later to be found spending time playing cards for money, placing bets on sports, among other things. The study however did not say if the children where participating in any other negative behaviors such as drinking, drugs, sex, or vandalism. The main stressed point was that the five year olds with impulsivity problems had a twenty five percent increased risk of a gambling addiction later in life.
Don’t break down and start panic just yet if your child is making impulsive decisions. You can still save them. The intervention needs to take place before they turn seven when their frontal lobe is growing. The frontal lobe is responsible for cognitive behavior so their future problems need to be fixed now. Researchers suggest teaching your impulsive child the, “Stop, Look, and Listen” routine. This can help your child stop what they are doing, look around their environment, and listen in order to calm themselves into making a more intelligible decision. Also modeling good intelligible decision making will help your child.
Personally, I laughed when I read this article. I envisioned myself calling a parent in for a special meeting and then telling them that I am fearful that their child might develop a possible gambling addiction and that we need to take action now. Yes, I agree that children in Kindergarten are developing and we need to be modeling appropriate behaviors and trying to correct their impulsive behavior now so that it does not become a problem for them in the future but we are not doctors and some kids no matter what we do are going to have attention issues down the road. I don’t believe just because a child can not pay attention and is easily distracted they will be a future gambler. I do believe they might have a more likely chance to dabble in a variety of negative behaviors but not just gambling.
http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/dailydose/03/03/children.kindergartners.gambling/index.html#cnnSTCText
