Habit Time

[Reptilian]

Hey all-

I don't know if you've heard this before, but it is said that it takes a certain amount of time for an act to become a habit. Anyone have any idea how long that is?

I want to say six weeks...

[Louie1]

Hey all-

I don't know if you've heard this before, but it is said that it takes a certain amount of time for an act to become a habit. Anyone have any idea how long that is?

I want to say six weeks...

~21 days habit 42days routine if that makes sense

[Reptilian]

Perfect, thanks!

[Inknsteel]

I think that depends on what kind of "act" we're talking about...

How many times do you have to spin on your head backwards with your pants around your ankles while humming yankee doodle dandy before going to bed does it take to make a habit?

How many cigarettes does it take to become a habit?

See what I mean?

[Reptilian]

I see what you're saying.

Maybe habit wasn't the best word. Routine is better. I guess what I am looking for is ways to learn/ how long it takes to learn discipline. If that's all possible, which I believe it is because young children, be it handling/saving money or learning to care for pets, aren't born with discipline.

[Louie1]

I think that depends on what kind of "act" we're talking about...

How many times do you have to spin on your head backwards with your pants around your ankles while humming yankee doodle dandy before going to bed does it take to make a habit?

How many cigarettes does it take to become a habit?

See what I mean?

Going on three weeks! How did you know do I need to close my blinds at night?

[frankykeno]

Layna, I think it depends heavily on the routine/discipline/habit one is trying to learn, whether you are the driving force of learning yourself or whether it's being somewhat imposed upon you, age/emotional maturity of the person and motivation.

Example #1:

My 16 year old son wants his driver's license. He's very motivated to get that. He's the "driving force" behind it. He wants this so he will make himself focus on that and learn quickly. As his parent I will help him build good driving skills and hopefully all the adults in his life have already modelled safe driving habits.

Example #2:

The same son has never liked doing homework or turning in school projects. We've modelled good behaviour, we've punished poor behaviour, we've allowed him to fail if he didn't do his work and got the bad grades that resulted. He was never invested in the process all that much until this year (he's a junior). Suddenly the light went off that this lack of the habit of doing his work will keep his grades low enough to impact on his college/university choices.

Bingo, guess whose getting very good grades! LOL The other benefit of this is that it affects Example #1 because we have a rule that our kid's can't take driving training if they aren't mature enough to do their school work and bring home halfway decent grades.

Development of habits or routines is dependent on a lot of factors really.