There is a growing awareness among developmental scientists that the better a child can self-regulate, the better she can rise to the challenge of mastering ever more complex skills and concepts. In the simplest terms, self-regulation can be defined as the ability to stay calmly focused and alert, which often involves--but cannot be reduced to--self-control. The better a child can stay calmly focused and alert, the better he integrates the diverse information coming in from his different senses, assimilates it, and sequences his thoughts and actions. For someone who thinks that self-regulation is really just a matter of a child's getting in control of his negative emotions, there is very little difference between self-regulation and compliance. But, unlike compliance based on punishment, self-regulation nurtures the ability to cope with greater and greater challenges because it involves arousal states, emotions, behavior, and--as the child grows older--thinking skills. (Contains 7 endnotes.)