Tuesday Tips: The Pause That Builds a Plan

Yesterday, we dug into metacognition—the ability to think about your thinking.
It’s the brain’s “observer mode,” the part that helps us notice what we’re doing, why we’re doing it, and what might happen next.

Today, we’re taking that idea and putting it into everyday practice with one simple but powerful strategy: The Pause with Purpose.

Because a pause?
It’s incredibly important.

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Why This Matters

When we give a direction like “Go get your shoes,” it sounds really easy.

But inside that one sentence are half a dozen executive functioning demands.

Your child has to:

• Hold the goal in working memory.

• Recall where their shoes might be.

• Plan a route through the house.

• Inhibit distractions along the way (Legos, snacks, the cat).

• Sequence the steps.

• Retrieve and return—ideally with both shoes.

That’s a lot of brain power for a short sentence.

And that’s assuming they really know where their shoes are!