Pause is a simple word that can have such a big impact! All kids tend to know what this word means – they see it all the time when watching TV, listening to music or on videos on an iPad.
While “stop” is often related to safety or when a child is in trouble, “pause” can be a more relaxed word that feels safe and keeps kids motivated to use it themselves. Another benefit is that pausing means we can still come back to the fun thing we want to do – while stop can make kids like it is gone forever.
What would learning to pause help my child achieve?
There is so much that pause can help us with, as adults we find we do it all the time without realising! Here are some examples for kids:
- Feeling their internal body feelings (interoception) – the first step is pausing what we are doing so our brain can slow down and notice what feelings it has inside e.g. maybe you didn’t notice how hot you became when running around outside and needed to take your jumper off!
- Toileting – e.g. being able to stop during a game and go the toilet when we get the feeling
- Transitioning – pausing helps us learn the skills in stopping one task and moving on to the next
Example phrases:
- “I can feel my bladder is full of wee. I’m going to pause my drawing and go to the toilet. I’ll be right back!”
- “Lets pause our game so we can have a big drink of water. I can feel my mouth is dry.”
Here are some fun ways to help your child learn how to pause at home:
- Play musical statues – using the phrase “pause” when the music stops
- Have a pause competition – who can pause first?
- While drawing or building something (like with lego or playdough) see who can pause first.
- Use a timer or another person to call “pause” about every 30 seconds.
- Get the whole family involved in practicing pausing for others
- When someone needs to go the toilet or get a drink, everyone else can practice “pausing” by staying as still as they can until the person gets back
- Make it fun and feeling like a game, by trying to stay as still as a statue
- Use a TV remote to pause others
- Pretend to pause others around the room with a TV remote, playing and pausing together.
- You can even make your own craft pause remote with a leftover toilet roll and some paper
- Model how you pause in daily life
- e.g. when you need to go the toilet or get a phone call, verbalise your action of “pausing” and your inner thoughts that you can come back to the activity afterwards.
Once you start using the word pause, we find it starts coming naturally during daily life – and then children start using it themselves too!
SIENNA SMILEY
Occupational Therapist
