22 Ways to Teach Impulse Control & Delayed Gratification #573

·23 min·1 clip

Impulse control is a superpower in an era of same-day delivery and Snapchat.

1. Calm Parenting Podcast episode #573, '22 Ways to Teach Impulse Control & Delayed Gratification,' is Kirk Martin's solo guide to teaching kids self-control. 2. Martin says he raised Casey with these methods and treats impulse control as a skill that can pay off for 33 years and beyond. 3. He frames the episode around one question: what practical routines help children pause, wait, and choose better long-term outcomes. 4. He links weak impulse control to social mistakes, relationship blowups, financial debt, reckless driving, substance abuse, anxiety, and depression. 5. He says same-day delivery, YouTube Shorts, Snapchat, texting, online gambling, and shopping make waiting harder for kids today. 6. He opens the tactics with freeze dance and freeze tag, games that force a child to stop a body that still wants to move. 7. He describes a Red Robin fries exercise where Casey leaves food on the plate to practice saying no to something visible and tempting. 8. He tells parents to model self-control in traffic, with anger, with anxiety, and with everyday health choices like exercise and sleep. 9. He says one family rule was 'we never buy anything at the checkout counter,' because stores place high-margin impulse items there. 10. He recommends making kids wait 43 seconds, 94 seconds, or two and a half minutes before doing something they want. 11. He also recommends waiting 24 to 48 hours before any large purchase, a rule he says saved his family tens of thousands of dollars. 12. For triggered conversations, he says to 'sleep on it' instead of answering immediately. 13. He adds reading as a delayed-gratification habit because books force a child to wait days or weeks for the ending. 14. He treats board games such as chess, checkers, Stratego, and Monopoly as practice in waiting turns and thinking two moves ahead. 15. He teaches money with three buckets: save some, give some, and spend some. 16. He says Casey's hockey-stick tradeoffs, a Fidelity account, and later Apple and Nvidia stock show how opportunity cost and investing work together. 17. He recounts taking camp kids to Best Buy, making them put video games back, and walking out without buying them. 18. He says he was open with Casey about ADHD, novelty-seeking, risk-taking, and the need for guardrails like working out and volunteering. 19. The episode is a direct solo teaching talk with repetitive emphasis, family anecdotes, and a practical classroom-like pace. 20. Parents of young kids, ADHD kids, or families trying to curb spending will get the most from it.

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