"The mastery of any skill - whether a routine daily task or a highly refined talent - depends on the ability to perform it unconsciously with speed and accuracy while consciously carrying on other brain functions."
Benjamin Bloom (1986)
So for all you moms who feel like a broken record in asking your kids to perform tasks you think they should be doing with out prompts just remember that you are helping them to master skill which need lots and lots of practice to make them become automatic and that doesn't happen over night. Practice isn't usually fun but it is necessary to change our "effortful" tasks into "uneffortful" automatic responses that allows us to move onto developing in other ways as well. So every time you ask one more time to pick up their toys or put something away, be glad that you have a hand in helping them to develop that skill.
