Chapter 1. Early Childhood

Learn More

Explain

While kids seem like they’ll try almost any food before they are 2, often even the best, most flexible eaters get suddenly picky around the time they are 3. Some theorists think this has an evolutionary explanation—that the fact kids become more careful about trying new things at about the same time that they are getting more independent, protected children in the past from being poisoned by dangerous foods they may have found on their own. Other theorists think that picky eating has a genetic basis—that it seems to run in families. In either case, health experts advise that parents should keep on offering picky eaters healthy choices and accept that some children may have phases when they have unusual demands—which parents should remember probably won’t last forever (although that doesn’t mean giving in and making every meal chicken nuggets cooked the same exact way).

Being picky about food isn’t the only way young kids can be rigid. Your child may only want to wear a certain color of socks or sit in a special chair. This rigidity, known as the “just right” phenomenon, can contribute to pickiness in eating habits. Punishing, forcing, or offering rewards for eating foods may only intensify the struggle between the parent and child and result in more picky eating. The best way to deal with this rigidity is with patience and understanding. By age 6, most children will grow out of this phase.

Almost 10 percent of preschoolers in the United States are overweight, which is a major health concern because this can lead to a number of serious health concerns later in life, from diabetes to sleep apnea. Typically experts don’t advise that children be put on a diet (unless they are drastically overweight), but that parents switch to healthier food choices and increase the child’s activity level.

Parents can work to prevent obesity in their children by making sure they have healthy food choices and that they have time for active play—and modeling that behavior themselves. Parents who eat healthy and are physically fit themselves have healthier, more active children. But that is often difficult to manage, particularly in families under stress, where time and money may be hard to come by.

It may be particularly difficult to make sure that your children are active if they are in childcare during the day. According to recent research, many children in home-based childcare are watching too much television while there. Ask your childcare provider how much active time your child is getting during the day—and, if necessary, consider switching to a more active daycare provider.

Look Inside

A lot has changed in the physical appearance of a child over the first 3 years. The trunk and limbs have become proportionally longer compared to the head, creating a slimmer, less babyish appearance.

Children's nutritional needs change over time. A three-year-old will need 1000 to 1400 calories per day, depending on their size and activity level.

Toddlers need more sleep each day compared to adults, but experts vary on how much. Three-year-olds in North America typically get between 9 and 10 hours of sleep a day, but many pediatricians recommend more—10 to 12 hours if at all possible.

Review what we know about physical development and nutrition in early childhood in these videos.

Continue

Look Inside

What do we know about early childhood education or child care and how it might change the growing brain? This video will review some of what we know about early childhood education.

Learn More

Now that {model.babyName} is 3, people are starting to ask if you are going to send {model.baby_him_her} to preschool. Some days {model.baby_he_she} just seems too young to send to school. But on other days, you think that {model.baby_he_she} would really love school. Your friends keep reminding you that children who go to preschool seem to do better in school later on. Plus, your state offers a voucher program for preschool.

Now that {model.babyName} is 3, people are starting to ask if you are going to send {model.baby_him_her} to preschool. Some days {model.baby_he_she} just seems too young to send to school. But on other days, you think that {model.baby_he_she} would really love school. Your friends keep reminding you that children who go to preschool seem to do better in school later on. Plus, your state offers a Head Start program.

Now that {model.babyName} is 3, people are starting to ask if you are going to send {model.baby_him_her} to preschool. Some days {model.baby_he_she} just seems too young to send to school. But on other days, you think that {model.baby_he_she} would really love school. Your friends keep reminding you that children who go to preschool seem to do better in school later on.

Since {model.babyName} turned 3, people are asking whether {model.baby_he_she}’s going to a “real” preschool. You’re thinking maybe it is time to look at what your preschool options are. Your friends keep reminding you that children who go to preschool seem to do better in school later on. Plus, your state offers a voucher program for preschool.

Since {model.babyName} turned 3, people are asking whether {model.baby_he_she}’s going to a “real” preschool. You’re thinking maybe it is time to look at what your preschool options are. Your friends keep reminding you that children who go to preschool seem to do better in school later on.

Explain

Recent research seems to clearly indicate that going to a high-quality preschool helps children do better in school later on in life. Kids who go to preschool seem to have better language skills and score better in standardized tests when they end up in schools. Recent federal programs aim to give all 4-year-olds access to all-day “pre-K” or a year of preschool before they go to kindergarten. Experts believe that high-quality preschool can be particularly helpful for children from families who are poorer or less educated.

The number of children in preschool is rapidly changing as federal subsidies for pre-K begin to trickle into additional classrooms all around the country. Right now there are cultural and ethnic differences around the United States that seem to influence whether children are in preschool.

Around the world, the United States seems to lag a bit behind other industrialized countries in the number of 4-year-olds who are in preschool. But in less developed parts of the world, preschool is still fairly unusual and most children don’t go to school until they are 5 or 6.

How does this compare to other nations around the world?

In the United States there is a wide variety of preschools, daycare centers and childcare arrangements that are available to parents. Head Start is the federal program for preschool. It serves about 12% of children between 3 and 5. There are a variety of curriculums and teaching philosophies in different preschools around the country—from Waldorf, to Piaget-inspired, to Reggio Emilia and Montessori. There are a few big differences in preschool programs: Are they academically-focused or more focused on the child’s social and emotional development? Are the kids playing with capes on or are they reciting their ABCs?

You may also want to evaluate each preschool program to see how it matches up with the new federal quality rankings for early childhood education or whether it is accredited by a major early child development organization like NAEYC. Some questions to ask:

• Is your school aligned with state standards for early childhood education?
• Is there regular student assessment? This can be in terms of a portfolio, regular testing or a combination of the two.
• Are teachers fully-qualified? Have they taken required college courses in human development? Do the teachers have a lot of turnover, or are they invested in the program and the children and there for the long term so that children can develop long-term relationships with them?
• Is the school working to include families in teaching and learning about child development?
• Are they also focused on health goals including making sure that the preschool is safe and that kids are working toward being healthy?

Continue

Look Inside

What do we know about what how children learn language in early childhood? Review some of what we know about early speech and language development.

Baby Avatar will load here.

Learn More

{model.babyName} was such an early talker! Now it seems like everyone else around their age is finally catching up.

{model.baby_He_She_cap} speaks so clearly that you were shocked to hear {model.baby_him_her} making mistakes when {model.baby_he_she} was talking on the playground.

It has been so exciting to hear {model.babyName}’s speech develop. Just yesterday, you heard {model.baby_him_her} singing "Happy Birthday" to {model.baby_his_her} stuffed bear in the other room while you were making dinner.

But some of the things {model.baby_he_she} says are still funny.

Since you started taking {model.babyName} to speech therapy, {model.baby_he_she} is making huge improvements in how much {model.baby_he_she}'s talking. Just yesterday {model.babyName} told you that {model.baby_he_she} would “put away the toys.” A four word phrase! And {model.baby_he_she} is easier to understand, too.

{model.baby_He_She_cap} speaks so much better now that you were shocked to hear {model.baby_him_her} making mistakes when {model.baby_he_she} was talking on the playground.

You were nervous about not taking {model.babyName} to speech therapy, since {model.baby_he_she} seemed so behind everyone else when {model.baby_he_she} was younger. But {model.baby_he_she} seems to be catching up! Just this morning {model.babyName} told you “More Milk Please." {model.baby_He_She_cap} is so polite! And so many words in a row.

{model.baby_He_She_cap} speaks so much better now that you were shocked to hear {model.baby_him_her} making mistakes when {model.baby_he_she} was talking on the playground.

Explain

As funny as these errors are to parents, to researchers these errors are a window into how children learn language. These errors are called overregularization. To researchers, particularly those who are followers of language development theories emphasizing the evolutionary basis of language and children’s innate or inborn sense of grammar, they are fascinating. English grammar is complex. In overregularization errors, children are applying grammatical rules where they don’t apply—for example, adding “ed” to make words like “goed,” or “runned,” or “braked.” Researchers see these as proof that children have internalized grammar, even if they are not remembering all the exceptions. Children have a lot of exceptions to memorize—particularly in English—and it takes practice to get all of them right. The more they practice and the older they get, the fewer errors they’ll make. Caregivers don’t need to worry about these errors. In these cases, they are proof that these 3-year-old children are using the past tense. Their grammatical and language use is getting more complex, which is a good thing, even if it comes with some stumbles along the way. Adults should model appropriate grammar and speech and children will work it out. Frequently, children will even know enough to correct themselves.

Continue

Learn More

Do you think this sounds about right? Do you want to increase play time? Or decrease it? You may want to review the types of play or the expert recommendations in the Explain.

Do you think this sounds about right? Do you want to increase play time? Or decrease it? You may want to review the types of play or the expert recommendations in the Explain.

Explain

People used to call play the work of childhood. Nowadays, experts and parents worry that children don’t have that much time for play—at least not the old-fashioned kinds—with blocks or friends or out-of-doors on their own. Young children spend a lot of time in front of a screen—either watching television or playing video games. Most 2-year-olds already have a favorite DVD or TV program and most children start playing video games before they are 4 (Victoria J. Rideout, Elizabeth A. Vandewater, and Ellen A. Wartella, 2003). Parents tend to think these experiences can be educational, but experts advise that young children should try and limit their screen time to under 2 hours a day.

Experts also worry about whether children are getting enough physical play. Also called gross motor or big-body play, physical play is the running around and chasing that gets your heart pounding. Health officials worry that children aren’t getting enough physical play and that this is part of the reason more children are overweight. Children don’t get very much physical play at preschool—in part because they’re kept busy doing more academic work and partly because preschool teachers and administrators are worried about their safety on the playground. Kids typically spend only about 5% of their time in preschool doing big-body play. And parents don’t always have time in busy schedules to take their children to the playground. Typically, kids seem to play outside every day or two.

One of the big gains in early childhood is the ability to really socially play with other children. There are various types of play you see in early childhood—physical, pretend, organized, and constructive play. Researchers also see development in how children play together between the ages of 2 and 5. These classic categories, developed by the researcher Mildred Parten, can be seen in almost all types of play—from physical play to pretend play—creating yet another level by which we can analyze children’s activities. Notice that the types of play are on a continuum of social interaction—from more independent play to more socially complex play. Typically, the more socially complex types of play are common in older children, while toddlers will just be observed engaging in more independent types of play.

Sources: Data from Tandon PS, Zhou C, Christakis DA. Frequency of Parent-Supervised Outdoor Play of US Preschool-Aged Children. Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 2012; 166(8):707-712. doi:10.1001/archpediatrics.2011.1835

How do pre-kindergarteners spend their time? Gender, ethnicity, and income as predictors of experiences in pre-kindergarten classrooms by Diane M. Earlya, Iheoma U. Irukaa, Sharon Ritchiea, Oscar A. Barbarinb, Donna-Marie C. Winna, Gisele M. Crawforda, Pamela M. Fromea, Richard M. Clifforda, Margaret Burchinala, Carollee Howes, Donna M. Bryanta, Robert C. Piantad, Early Childhood Research Quarterly, Volume 25, Issue 2, 2nd Quarter 2010, Pages 177–193.

Look Inside

At 3 years of age, the typical child will be able to run well, stand on one foot briefly, and with a little practice, ride a tricycle.

Fine motor skills greatly improve between 2 and 3 years of age. Most young children can stack blocks, button and unbutton, and pull on socks (but not tie shoes).

Sometimes young children make errors which appear obvious to adults, such as putting a square peg in a round hole, or trying to sit on a tiny toy chair (an example of a "scale error"). This may be the result of uneven brain development. The areas of the brain that coordinate movement and planning mature at different rates than those that process visual information.

Review what we know about physical development early childhood in this video.

Continue

Learn More

This month, you got another post card from the child development lab at your local university. They want you to bring {model.babyName} in again to participate in a study. They promise it won’t involve crying this time. In fact, it might even involve candy (If you’re okay with that, that is!) Ever since {model.babyName} was such an early talker, you’re eager to see how else {model.baby_he_she} is excelling.

This month, you got another post card from the child development lab at your local university. They want you to bring {model.babyName} in again to participate in a study. They promise it won’t involve crying this time. In fact, it might even involve candy. (If you’re okay with that, that is!)

Explain

Social thinking develops in important ways during the preschool years. Toddlers understand that other people may have different needs or wants or ideas than they do. Grown-ups don’t drink from bottles. Babies don’t drink from dog dishes. But preschoolers are beginning to understand that people think different things—and that grown-ups may think things that aren’t true or even be tricked. As children develop a theory of mind, they can play more sophisticated games of pretend—but they also now can lie. They understand, for example, that they might get into trouble for eating a cupcake—and may try and convince you that the dog did it, despite the frosting on their hands.

There are some individual differences in the development of theory of mind. In general, children with siblings tend to show signs of it a bit earlier (perhaps because older siblings often play tricks on younger ones), and children who do a lot of pretend play and a lot of talk with their parents tend to be a bit more sophisticated. In part, researchers are interested in the development of theory of mind because it seems to be lacking in children with autistic spectrum disorder. Researchers hope that understanding the development of theory of mind in typically developing children will help them create interventions to help children with autism spectrum disorder.

Look Inside

Myelination in most areas of the brain is largely complete by age 3. One notable exception is the frontal areas of the cerebral cortex which will continue to myelinate into a person's 20s.

Although brain growth is slowing during early childhood, it is changing in critical ways. Myelination of neural fibers increases the speed of neural communication, and synaptic pruning helps increase the efficiency and selectivity of neural transmission.

Theory of mind is the ability to understand that people have varying mental states and that others have knowledge, intentions or desires that are different from one's own. This video demonstrates how children under the age of 3 years are unable to imagine the perspective of the other person in a fun game of 'hide the candy.' They simply are unable to hide the candy in their hands successfully, demonstrating that they have not yet mastered theory of mind.

Continue

Learn More

When you see {model.babyName} playing with other kids, {model.baby_he_she} seems to prefer to be with other {model.baby_boy_girl}s. When you take {model.babyName} to the playground to play, you notice that the children are often divided up into bunches of boys and girls. They are showing signs of gender segregation.

When you see {model.babyName} playing with other kids, {model.baby_he_she} seems to prefer to be with other {model.baby_boy_girl}s. When you go to pick up {model.babyName} at school, you notice that the children are often divided up into bunches of boys and girls. They are showing signs of gender segregation.

Explain

A typical 3-year-old may spend some time pretending to be a dog or a cat, or a daddy or a mommy. Usually their sense of who they are is fairly fluid. But as children grow up, one of the first aspects of their identity that they figure out is typically whether they are a boy or a girl.

There are three main perspectives researchers use to understand the development of gender in children: biological, cognitive and social. The biological perspective investigates some of the genetic, neurological and hormonal differences between boys and girls—sometimes investigating the evolutionary origins of gender differences. For example, the biological perspective led to investigation of how exposure to various hormones during fetal development can change babies’ brains. In some of these studies, researchers found that babies (whether boys or girls) who were exposed to more testosterone in utero to prefer to play with more “boy” toys than babies who weren’t exposed to as much testosterone.

The cognitive perspective emphasizes children’s thinking about how gender develops. For example, the cognitive perspective helps us to understand how children begin to grasp gender constancy. For example, a young child will believe that gender is ever changing while an older child understands that, most of the time, boys stay boys and girls stay girls. For example, a toddler will believe that a boy can easily transform into a girl by just changing his hair or adding a nice pair of barrettes (you can try this yourself—many young children seem to believe that the outfit really does “make the man”). Other cognitive research investigates how young children use stereotypes about gender, as they use other generalizations about a world that is new to them, as a way of organizing their world.

The socialization perspective focuses on the contributions of social context to the development of gender roles. How do parents, teachers and the broader culture support children’s understanding of what it means to be a boy or a girl? We know that girls who play with “girly” toys receive more praise than boys who play with “girly” toys. And we know that parents and caregivers treat boys and girls a little differently. All these contributions clearly help make boys and girls develop a bit differently.

All three perspectives clearly contribute to making kids into little boys and girls.

Look Inside

Three-year-old children can label themselves as boys or girls. Once this happens, they begin to pay more attention, and remember more, about events and objects they categorize as in the same sex category. Over time, when they know more about "boy activities" or "girl activities," other children with more compatible knowledge—usually in the same sex category—will often become more compatible playmates.

Review what we know about gender development in early childhood in this video.

You didn’t want to think this day would come. You’d always thought in the back of your mind that maybe one day things would end in wedding bells, but things have been difficult for the past few months between you and {model.partnerName}. You are breaking up. {model.partnerName} is going to move into an apartment nearby.

You can read more about the risk factors for separation and divorce in the Explain and Learn More—think about what might have contributed to this situation.

{model.babyName} is just {model.childData.age.years} years old. About {model.divorceRate} separate or divorce among kids’ {model.baby_his_her} age.

You didn’t want to think this day would come. When you got married you thought it was forever. But things have been difficult for the past few months between you and {model.partnerName}. You are breaking up. {model.partnerName} is going to move into an apartment nearby.

You can read more about the risk factors for separation and divorce in the Explain and Learn More—think about what might have contributed to this situation.

{model.babyName} is just {model.childData.age.years} years old. About {model.divorceRate} separate or divorce among kids’ {model.baby_his_her} age.

{model.babyName}’s best friend’s parents are breaking up. You were shocked to hear it, but you heard that they just haven’t been getting along and that they are moving into separate apartments. To read more about the risk factors for separation and divorce in the Explain and Learn More articles.

This child is just the same age as {model.babyName}. About {model.divorceRate} separate or divorce among kids’ {model.baby_his_her} age.

Your best friend is breaking up with {model.user_his_her} partner. You were shocked to hear it, but {model.user_he_she} tells you that they just hadn’t been getting along and that they are moving into separate apartments. {model.user_he_she_cap} has a son your child’s age. To read more about the risk factors for separation and divorce in the Explain and Learn More articles.

This child is just the same age as {model.babyName}. About {model.divorceRate} separate or divorce among kids’ {model.baby_his_her} age.

Explain

Children, particularly young children, often undergo family transitions. As you’ll see in the chart, fewer than half of all children live in married, two-parent households. And almost 3 out of 10 children undergo a family transition before they start kindergarten.

While every romantic break-up is different in its own way, researchers have identified some common risk and protective factors for separation and divorce. We’ll separate these characteristics by context, couple characteristics and individual characteristics.

Risk Factors for relationship instability

• Context:
  • Living in a stressful environment, including struggling financially can raise the risk of separation.
• Couple:
  • Every couple has disagreements, but having a pattern of volatile, hostile interactions increases the risk of breaking up.
  • As you’ll see in the figure below, getting together when you are younger—like under 22—or much older (like after 40) are also risk factors for breaking up.
  • In the United States, cohabiting (or living together) rather than being legally married seems to be associated with higher chance of breaking up.
• Individual:
  • Having a personal history of exposure to separation and divorce in your own family can make it easier for parents to contemplate breaking up.
  • Having a personality that is less conscientious or easy to get along with also increases the risk of separation or divorce.
  • A history of secure attachment styles with your own parents also makes it less likely that you will experience a separation or divorce.

Protective Factors for relationship stability

• Cultural, community or religious beliefs that prohibit or discourage divorce or separation make it much less likely that you will separate. This doesn’t necessarily mean that your relationships will be happier (although some research does indicate that this may be the case in some families), but that you will stick it out.
• Higher education. For some reason, the more education you have, the less likely you are to break up. This could be because people with more education tend to have higher incomes or that people who stick it out through college are more likely to commit to a marriage for the long term.

Separation and divorce inevitably cause some stresses in a family. From having to move, to changes in routines, changing parental relationships can be difficult on parents and children. In the short-term children who are undergoing family turmoil can be more depressed, do worse in school and feel badly about themselves. Families can be under particular stress if the break-up causes financial strain, as is often the case, as families try and provide for two households on an income that used to provide for just one. And in breakups with ongoing major conflict (estimated to be less than 20 percent), the continuing emotional and legal battles can be devastating for the entire family—and have long term repercussions for everyone’s happiness and mental health.

In the long term, parents can do a great deal to buffer children from the stresses of divorce or separation. Continuing to have a close, warm, authoritative parenting style and being able to focus on children’s needs—rather than the stresses of parents—seems to help children thrive and grow after a divorce. If parents are able to manage the separation well, most children seem to be able to do just as well as other children into adulthood.

What should happen to children after separation or divorce? Children benefit from ongoing, multiple attachments with parents and parent-figures, whether biological, adoptive or step-parents. In most cases, a shared parenting situation—including substantial time with both parents (including overnights) seems to work best for children—allowing them to create meaningful ongoing relationships with both parents (Warshak et al, 2014).

However, not all parenting and family situations are ideal. The vast majority of divorces end up to be fairly neutral or even friendly after the initial stress of the separation—but some remain profoundly conflictual. In other families, one or both of the parents may be struggling with mental health or substance abuse challenges. In some there may have been abuse or domestic violence. In other families, one of the parents may not have had any meaningful contact with the child—and may not have even cohabitated with the child before the official, legal separation. In these cases, what is best for children is not always clear. While children benefit from ongoing attachment relationships with all their parents—their emotional and physical safety is also critical. Building relationships that may have been damaged takes time and avoiding a perpetuation of significant parental conflict is also helpful for the ongoing health of the entire family unit. In situations like these, there are rarely easy answers—and very often there are not enough legal, financial or emotional resources to help these families through what can be lengthy and trying times.

In general, kids seem to do better with fewer transitions. However, particularly for young children, like infants and toddlers under 3, it is important to have frequent contact—if parents can only see their children once a week or on weekends, it is often not frequent enough to sustain a relationship. Longer visits allow children and parents time to get used to each other.

Continue

It has been a long time since you and {model.partnerName} broke up. You never imagined that the fighting would go on this long. You are just about as upset about {model.partnerHimHer} as you were the day {model.partnerHeShe} left for the first time. Everything seems to be a fight. Birthdays. Holidays. Where {model.babyName} should go to school. What kind of after school activities you should pay for. {model.babyName} goes to see {model.partnerName} every week but seeing {model.baby_him_her} go brings up all the disagreements.

It has been a long time since you and {model.partnerName} broke up. You never imagined that this would become the new normal. But {model.babyName} has seemed to adjust nicely—and actually you and {model.partnerName} are getting along. {model.babyName} has been able to maintain a great relationship with both of you and you feel really proud of that.

You’ve actually started seeing someone new. What do you think about introducing {model.babyName} to your new {model.partnerGirlfriendBoyfriend}.

Explain

Life after a divorce or separation depends on how much conflict the parents are going through. Most parents are able to move beyond the conflict in a year or so. But about 20 percent linger in corrosive conflict for longer—with potentially harmful effects on children. Most experts advise trying to enlist a mediator, family therapist, religious elder or respected family member to help cool down the fighting and help put the family first.

While many children can thrive in single-parent households, households with more adults tend to have more income, which can help. And parents tend to benefit from stable, committed intimate relationships—being with a loving partner can help adults buffer stress and parent better. However, millions of single mothers do an amazing job every day raising successful children.

It is very common for separated or divorced adults to re-couple. About 15 percent of children live in a “blended” family where the parents have legally remarried to a new partner. Many others live in families with two adults who are less formally partnered.

Children seem to thrive on stable, committed relationships with adults—whether biological, adoptive or step-parents. Step-parents—a term that is often used by children and adults to refer to anyone who takes a parent role with children, regardless of whether they are legally married to a biological parent—can benefit children if they have strong, attached and long-term committed relationships.

Continue

Explain

Most children in United States have at least one sibling—and potentially more biological or step-siblings.

Some siblings are just months apart in age and other can be separated by decades. As you can see in the figure below, most children are less than five years apart. Medical experts advise that women—and their babies—will be healthiest if they wait at least a year after giving birth before getting pregnant again.

Researchers who have looked at the school performance of siblings have noted that first children tend to do better in school—and that younger children tend to do better in school if there is a bigger age gap between children. First children tend to get more attention than children who are born later—but much of this extra time comes in the first few years, so waiting a few years before having a second child may make sure that the second child gets enough attention.

The relationship between siblings can be an important way for children to practice relating and getting along. Relationships between siblings may be close—or distant—and siblings can teach each other good, or bad lessons. Challenging relationships with siblings can make development challenging—but loving relationships can be a buffer and a support for a lifetime. Making sure that young children learn how to manage conflict and their emotions with their siblings can be an important place for your children to learn how to relate to their friends and others outside of your family.

Continue

Learn More

Explain

As children get older, we expect them to have more control over their impulses and more sense of right-and-wrong. We expect older children to follow directions, and toddlers to eventually stop making messes and breaking things. Experts believe that children’s increased ability to control themselves is related to changes in their brain. As the brain—and particularly the prefrontal cortex—develops, children have more control over their behavior and the ability to prevent or inhibit themselves from doing impulsive things. Children are also better able to demonstrate their self-control by doing appropriate things—like putting away toys when they are asked.

Researchers have devised a number of ways to measure children’s developing self-control, including The Marshmallow Test. The Marshmallow Test is an informal name for a task devised by Stanford psychologist Walter Michel to measure how good children are at controlling themselves. Young kids are placed in a room with a tempting treat (marshmallows worked well when Michel first did the study in the late 1960s) and asked to wait until the researcher returns to the room before eating it. They’re told they’ll get more marshmallows if they’re able to wait. In follow up studies, Michel found that children who could wait and didn’t eat the marshmallow right away ended up more successful than other children. He also found that it was possible to teach kids successful self-control strategies.

Other researchers, most notably Grazyna Kochanska, have pioneered other ways of measuring children’s ability to control themselves, and the relationship this has with children’s developing sense of right and wrong. These researchers have discovered that there is a complicated relationship between genetic factors and aspects of children’s environments that help them develop high or low self-regulation skills. Children do seem to have some genetic factors that enhance their ability to control themselves. But how well attached they are to their parents, and how sensitive their caregiving has been, is also critically important.

Children who are good at these tasks have some advantages in life. Being able to control yourself pays off throughout life and seems to result in children who are easier to get along with and who do better in school. But children can also be taught methods of self-control—like distracting themselves while they are waiting for the parent or researcher to return. These tactics can enhance their performance on tasks and even in later real-life times when they need to follow the rules and do things that may not come naturally—both skills that come in handy in working with others and doing well in school.

Look Inside

Preschool children will often forget instructions that involve more than one step, whether it is the rules of a game or a request by dad to pick up clothes and put away toys. This is due, in part, to the relative immaturity of parts of the brain involved in memory and planning, including the hippocampus and frontal cortex.

Young children are usually not very good at recalling past events and providing eyewitness testimony. There is an abundance of evidence that preschool children are more susceptible to false suggestions compared to adults, and sometimes agree to clearly false questions (i.e., "Did the doctor cut off your hair?") because, with immature brain circuits for memory and limited experiences to draw on, the question itself may blend with their representation of the past event.

In order to remember new information, such as a phone number, a child must use a variety of skills such as attending to the spoken numbers, avoiding distractions, rehearsing the number, encoding the number in long term memory, and providing herself with retrieval cues. A 4-year-old's failure to remember can occur if there is a problem with any one of these steps. Knitting together all of these skills into a more reliable memory system will take several years.

This clip shows an experiment into whether young children are able to resist temptation and delay gratification. In the experiment, young children are told that if they do not eat a favorite candy immediately, they can have more later. The adult leaves and a hidden camera confirms that two-thirds of the children are unable to resist eating the candy immediately, even though this means they get less candy overall. This is due to immature frontal lobes, the brain area that allows children to resist temptation.

Continue

Learn More

You still remember the first time you saw {model.babyName} pretend: She was holding her foot up to her head and pretending to “talk” to Grandma. You took a photo and sent it right over to Grandma to see for herself!

Today you were picking up and heard {model.babyName} setting up snacks in the other room and playing teacher. You were afraid that she’d gotten out all the crackers and drinks—since the dolls seemed as if they were enjoying them. But when you came into the room to check, you saw that there was nothing to worry about. The food was all invisible.

You still remember the first time you saw {model.babyName} pretend: He held up a Cheerio to Baby Bear’s mouth—his favorite stuffed animal—and smacked his lips and pretended to feed Baby Bear. It was so cute!

Today you noticed {model.babyName} taking a long, rectangle block and “driving” it around the table. Vroom, vroom!

Explain

Your child isn’t crazy to be imagining things that aren’t there! They’re getting smarter. The ability to play with things that aren’t there—or pretend to be something that you are not—is a sign that the child can remember objects that are not in the present and manipulate them to play games. This kind of pretend play and imagination is a characteristic of preoperational thought—the Piagetian stage of cognitive development involving language and imagination for children between about 2 and 5. Preoperational intelligence also includes animism, which is attributing living characteristics to nonliving objects, such as trees, the ocean, and so on. Anthropomorphism, or attributing human characteristics and abilities to animals, is closely related. Young children often attribute feelings, likes and dislikes, similar to their own, to animals. Not only are preschool-aged children more open to magical thinking, but children’s books, movies and other media frequently involve personifying animals and nonliving objects by giving them human characteristics.

Look Inside

Review what we understand about Piaget’s stages of development in early childhood.

Continue

Learn More

Look Inside

What do we know about what how children learn language in early childhood? Review some of what we know about early speech and language development.

Baby Avatar will load here.

Explain

Children model behavior, good and bad, all the time. According to social learning theory—and much hands-on experience—children learn through observing what’s around them. In this case, your child could have heard this word from a friend or a neighbor, maybe from the television, or even from you or your partner. Children repeat behavior they’ve observed. In language development, children are masters of fast mapping, which allows children to build vocabulary very quickly. In fast mapping, children are able to figure out the meaning of a word after just hearing it once. For example, they may figure out that an “olive” is that black object Grandma likes on pizza, even though no one has pointed to the olives and explained to the child what they are. The inclination to model behavior coupled with a rapidly growing vocabulary at this age can create a perfect storm if a “bad word” is introduced into the mix. Chances are the child knows saying the word generates attention, so it feels good to say it. So you may be hearing a lot of this swear word—or not! At 4 or 5, however, children know the difference between appropriate speech and inappropriate speech. They also know the difference between things that are appropriate for adults (like “daddy juice”) and things that are appropriate for children.

Continue

Learn More

Look Inside

What’s going on as your child grows in independence? Is their developing body and brain making it difficult to follow directions? Review some of the basics about parenting in early childhood in this video.

It had been a long day already. You just had your back turned for a minute when you heard the splash behind you. {model.babyName} had opened up the fridge and out came the half gallon of milk you’d just gotten at the store. {model.babyName} stared up at you. “Uh-oh,” {model.baby_he_she} said. You notice the glass on the floor next to the refrigerator, now sitting in a puddle of milk. You saw the tears well up in {model.baby_his_her} eyes and {model.baby_he_she} started crying.

It had been a long day already. You’d offered to watch your sister’s toddler all afternoon and it hasn’t been easy. You had your back turned for a minute and {model.babyName} and your sister’s child are fighting over who gets to hold the toy. {model.babyName} hits the other toddler in the arm to get the toy away.

It had been a long day and now you’re relived to see it is almost time for bed. But {model.babyName} doesn’t want to go without a fight. {model.baby_He_She_cap} refuses to change into {model.baby_his_her} pajamas and hurls {model.baby_his_her} tooth brush onto the floor.

Explain

What’s happening here? Young kids are naturally still a bit impulsive and aren’t good at following adult direction much of the time. Their brains are still developing the executive function and self-control it takes to consistently block impulses like hitting or pulling out the milk when they’re really thirsty or throwing something across the room. Just because your preschooler can’t do the right thing all the time doesn’t mean that they are going to be disobedient and aggressive later in life. (Although some kids are more aggressive at age 4 and may not have as much empathy as other children, which may be a worrisome sign for their development.) But parents can have a lot of impact in guiding their children to behave better more of the time.

For the past fifty years or so, the most common way of analyzing parental behavior has followed the descriptions of Diana Baumrind and other researchers who’ve followed in her path, who developed a typology of parenting based parental warmth and expectations. These fall into four main categories (also summarized in this table below). Authoritative parenting is the ideal–combining high, but age-appropriate expectations, with high warmth. Less ideal parenting styles include permissive parenting—which is warm, but with low expectations for children and authoritarian parenting, with high expectations but relatively little warmth. Neglectful parenting, not originally coined by Baumrind but added by later researchers, is perhaps the worst possibility—where parents don’t seem attached to their children or able to set appropriate expectations for them.

Another way to examine parenting is to look at some of the personality characteristics of the parents. Parents bring their own personal style to parenting—so that, unsurprisingly, parents who are depressed or angry tend to be less sensitive and warm as parents. And parents who are extraverted, outgoing and agreeable tend to be better at communicating and have better relationships with their children.

As in everything else in development, context is also extremely important in parenting. No one parents in a vacuum. Everything from marital problems to economic stresses have an impact on parenting (and, unsurprisingly, more stress seems to lead to worse parenting). Culture also matters: What counts as “sensitive” or “warm” parenting may be different from sub-group to sub-group, so in one culture, it may be expected that parents hug and kiss their children a great deal, while in others, a morning handshake is warmth enough. Culture can also come into play when there are differences between cultures, as can happen when families emigrate from one country to another and are parenting in a style common to their culture of origin while being surrounded by new cultural expectations.

You’ll get a chance to try and change some of your scores on the parenting report card in later events. Right now, you’re about to get a chance to see how your parenting (and your child’s native skills) are going to show up on their Kindergarten readiness assessment.

Continue

Look Inside

What’s going on as your child grows in independence? Is their developing body and brain making it difficult to follow directions? Review some of the basics about parenting in early childhood in this video.

Great job! Looks like your choices put you solidly in the authoritative range.

Your answers on some of the discipline and attachment events earlier in this project may have led to a judgment that your parenting style was somewhat authoritarian—meaning that you have tough expectations but not a lot of sensitivity or warmth that goes along with it. Sometimes children with authoritarian parents end up with poorer social skills (maybe because of missing the warmth) than children who are raised in an authoritative style. Their school performance can also suffer.

You are the fun parent! Permissive parents tend to say “yes” all the time—buy their children ice cream every time they demand it—and don’t make a big deal out of children coming home with a bad report card. But their children seem to be less disciplined—probably because they didn’t have many limits at home. They seem to end up feeling good about themselves but not able to follow the rules when they need to.

Not good news! It looks like based on your responses on some of the discipline and attachment events earlier in this project that you’re not giving enough limits or attention to your little one. This isn’t a great situation. Try and make sure to repair this as you have choices about parenting going forward. Get more involved!

Your Parenting Personality

Your Parenting Personality

Changing your personality can be challenging, but being aware of how your interactions can affect your parenting—and how your partner’s personality can do the same—can be helpful. And it is possible to change some of your personality habits. For challenging personality problems, psychotherapy can help. And for everyone, reducing the levels of stress in one’s life can help move people from feeling depressed or moody to being more even-tempered and happy.

Changing your personality can be challenging, but being aware of how your interactions can affect your parenting can be helpful. And it is possible to change some of your personality habits. For challenging personality problems, psychotherapy can help. And for everyone, reducing the levels of stress in one’s life can help move people from feeling depressed or moody to being more even-tempered and happy.

Your Parenting Knowledge: Low

Your Parenting Knowledge: High

Stress: High

Stress: Moderate

Stress: Low

You’re in a difficult position right now—lots of stress can be challenging. You are in the lowest income category, which leads to a lot of stress as you have to make difficult decisions about what bills to pay and how to accommodate the inevitable emergencies like broken transmissions and new winter coats. Remember if you have an option to go back and get more education—you may want to go for it. More education tends to lead to more financial success (and less stress) in the long run.

You’re in a difficult position right now—lots of stress can be challenging. You are in the lowest income category, which leads to a lot of stress as you have to make difficult decisions about what bills to pay and how to accommodate the inevitable emergencies like broken transmissions and new winter coats. In addition, as a single parent, you have to juggle childcare on your own. Remember if you have an option to go back and get more education—you may want to go for it. More education tends to lead to more financial success (and less stress) in the long run.

You’re in a difficult position right now—lots of stress can be challenging. While you are in a higher income category, you have a lot of stress as a single parent trying to juggle childcare and bill paying all on your own. Remember if you have an option to go back and get more education—you may want to go for it. More education tends to lead to more financial success in the long run.

Like so many people, you’re juggling a lot of things right now. You’re in the enviable position of being in a higher income category—but research shows that having a higher income can actually lead to higher levels of stress. Higher incomes seem to lead to more needs—and sometimes even the highest incomes can’t afford everything. And the high income means that you can pay for a lot of activities for you and your child—which can make for a hectic and stressful life

Like so many people, you’re juggling a lot of things right now. You’re in the enviable position of being in a higher income category—but research shows that having a higher income can actually lead to higher levels of stress. Higher incomes seem to lead to more needs—and sometimes even the highest incomes can’t afford everything. And the high income means that you can pay for a lot of activities for you and your child—which can make for a hectic and stressful life. In addition, as a single parent, you have to juggle childcare on your own.

Things are not too bad. There are some challenges that worry you about the future, but life is moderately stable. Remember if you have an option to go back and get more education—you may want to go for it. More education tends to lead to more financial success in the long run.

You’re in a pretty enviable position right now. You are in our medium income category but that actually means you are in the lowest area of economic stress. You definitely got lucky! Remember if you have an option to go back and get more education—you may want to go for it. More education tends to lead to more financial success in the long run.

Family Relationship Stress: High

Family Relationship Stress: Moderate

Family Relationship Stress: Low to Moderate

Family Relationship Stress: Low

Continue

Learn More

It is amazing to think that {model.babyName} will be starting school on {model.baby_his_her} own for the first time.

Even though {model.babyName} has been in daycare, it is amazing to think that {model.baby_he_she} will be in real school in the fall.

Even though {model.babyName} has been in preschool, it is amazing to think that {model.baby_he_she} will be in real school in the fall.

Look Inside

A 5-year-old child is growing a bit more slowly compared to the early preschool years. But with larger and more active bodies, they clearly need more calories—between 1200 and 1800 a day—depending on their size and activity level. Boys are generally more active and, hence, will need more calories, on average.

The brain continues to grow but at a slower place at the end of early childhood. At age five, the brain has attained about 90% of its adult weight.

Most 5-year-old children hop and skip well, show good balance, and can easily learn to skate or ride a scooter. Gross motor skills, which require whole-body strength and coordination, are greatly improved with practice.

Most 5-year-old children can dress themselves without help, print simple letters, and learn to tie their shoes. Their fine motor skills of the hand and fingers have improved from years of practice in everyday tasks.

Continue

Continue

Learn More

Look Inside

Review what we know about physical development n in early childhood in this video.

Baby Avatar will load here.

It seems like just a few days ago you were dropping {model.babyName} off at kindergarten for the first time and wiping your eyes a little on the way home. Hard to believe that little {model.babyName} is now about to go into first grade. {model.baby_He_She_cap} isn’t so little anymore!

It seems like just a few days ago you were dropping {model.babyName} off at kindergarten for the first time. Hard to believe that little {model.babyName} is now about to go into first grade. {model.baby_He_She_cap} isn’t so little anymore!

Explain

In real life, a child’s kindergarten report card won’t necessarily give them this kind of comprehensive portrait of how they are doing. By the time a child has reached kindergarten, most schools and teachers are focusing on the ABCs—and the 1,2, 3s, and making sure children do well on standardized tests. Sometimes parents—or teachers or other caregivers—have to create a more balanced view of a child’s challenges and successes by bringing together information from medical providers, parents, mental health providers or other professionals.

As children move into first grade, it can be a good time to get children early intervention. Often challenges in one area—like emotional regulation or speech—can cause difficulties in other areas of a child’s life. Early treatment can be critical in helping a child be happy and successful in school.

Continue

Video: Family Structure and Function in Middle Childhood

Video: John and Julie Gottman Examine Marital and Family Stress

Video: Physical Development in Early Childhood

Video: Nutrition in Early Childhood

Video: Early Childhood Education

Video: Language Development in Early Childhood

Video: Reticent Children in Groups

Video depicts footage of young children playing in a research lab setting. There is no sound but we can see one young child lying on the ground while the other kids play together at the table. Another young boy stands alone while two others play together with blocks. Finally, one young boy walks up to the reticent boy and offers him a ball, which he tosses away.

Video: Excerpts from "Up" Documentary: Discipline and Self-Discipline

This video segment is an excerpt from the documentary “Up” and shows footage of the kids engaged in exercise varying from classical ballet for the upper income girl to free play on the playground for the lower-income kids. Discussion of distinction between freedom and discipline for the kids and interviews with the kids about what they do in their spare time (e.g., disciplined schedule of bedtime at 7pm for upper-income child compared to bedtime of 11pm for lower-income child).

Video: The Impact of Media in Early Childhood

Video: Imaginary Companions: The Research of Marjorie Taylor

Video shows a young girl (no age given probably between 4 and 6 years) in a research lab setting being asked about imaginary friends including “Elfie Welfie” who is “really, really pretend”. The child describes her imaginary friends (one is a baby, one is two, she wears tie-dye, they like to eat pickles etc.)

Video: Early Childhood: Psychosocial Development: A Brief Overview

Video: Early Childhood: Biosocial Development: A Brief Overview

Video: The Emergence of Empathy: The Research of Carolyn Zahn-Waxler

In this research situation a stranger pretends to be upset at a magazine in front of a 2 year old boy. Children who experience empathy at this young age will typically ask their caregiver to help the stranger. Research also suggests that empathetic caregiving is related to the development of empathy in the child.

Video: Theory of Mind: False-Belief Tasks

Theory of mind is the ability to understand that people have varying mental states and that others have knowledge, intentions, desires, etc. that are different from one's own. This video demonstrates the understanding of theory of mind for both a 42-month-old girl and a 52-month-old boy using a story line with dolls. The 42-month-old girl fails the theory of mind test in that she believes that both dolls have the same understanding. The 52-month-old boy passes the theory of mind test in that he understands that both dolls have a different understanding.

Video: Theory of Mind: Representational Change—Fail

Theory of mind is the ability to understand that people have varying mental states and that others have knowledge, intentions, desires, etc. that are different from one's own. This video demonstrates the understanding of theory of mind for a 3-year-old boy using a crayon box and animal crackers. The boy is asked what is thinks will be in the crayon box and he answers crayons. He is then shown that animal crackers are actually in the box. Then he is asked what another person would think is in the box and he answers animal crackers. This demonstrates that the 3-year-old boy has not mastered theory of mind and believes that all have the same understanding that he does.

Video: Theory of Mind: Representational Change—Pass

Theory of mind is the ability to understand that people have varying mental states and that others have knowledge, intentions, desires, etc. that are different from one's own. This video demonstrates the understanding of theory of mind for a 5 ½-year-old girl using a crayon box and animal crackers. The girl is asked what she thinks will be in the crayon box and she answers crayons. She is then shown that animal crackers are actually in the box. Then she is asked what another person would think is in the box and she answers crayons. This demonstrates that the girl has mastered theory of mind and understands that others may have a different understanding than she does.

Video: Theory of Mind: Taking the Perspective of Others

Theory of mind is the ability to understand that people have varying mental states and that others have knowledge, intentions, desires, etc. that are different from one's own. This video demonstrates how children under the age of 3 years are unable to imagine the perspective of the other person in a fun game of 'hide the candy.' They simply are unable to hide the candy in their hands successfully, demonstrating that they have not yet mastered theory of mind.

Video: Cognitive Development: Overcoming Attentional Inertia

This video covers the research of Adele Diamond from the Center of Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience, who studies attentional inertia. Attentional inertia is the inability to overcome initial relevance of an item and focus on another aspect of the item. A 3-year-old girl is shown sorting cards by shape or color and struggling to focus attention on the new aspect of the card. With adults, attentional inertia is measured in reaction time in sorting items by criteria and during mixed trials the reaction time slows drastically. The role of the prefrontal cortex is discussed.

Video: Gender Development in Early Childhood

Video: Ekman's Studies on Facial Expressions of Emotion

Video: Observational Learning of Aggression: Bandura's Bobo Doll Study

Albert Bandura, a pioneer in observational learning, performed a now-classic experiment to demonstrate that children can learn aggressive behaviors simply by seeing others model those behaviors, rather than through receiving rewards for their own aggressive behaviors.In these experiments, Bandura had adults act aggressively, punching and roughing up a Bobo doll, an inflatable toy that, when jostled, always returns to an upright position. Children who observed these actions behaved similarly when left alone with the Bobo doll. Modeling, Bandura found, is most likely to occur if the observer is uncertain or inexperienced, and if the model is admirable and powerful, nurturing, or similar to the observer.

Video: Can Children Delay Gratification?

This clip shows an experiment into whether young children are able to resist temptation and delay gratification. In the experiment, young children are told that if they do not eat a favorite candy immediately, they can have more later. The adult leaves and a hidden camera confirms that two-thirds of the children are unable to resist eating the candy immediately, even though this means they get less candy overall. This is due to immature frontal lobes, the brain area that allows children to resist temptation.

Video: Developing Self Control in Early Childhood

Video: Development of Self-Control in Middle Childhood

Video: Gross and Fine Motor Skills in Early Childhood

Video: Moral Development in Early Childhood

Video: Cognitive Development in Early Childhood: Preoperational and Concrete Operational Thought

Video: Early Childhood: Cognitive Development: A Brief Overview

Video: A Young Mother in Brazil

Every fifth child in the world is born to girls aged 13 to 19 years. In this video clip, you will meet Ana Claudia, a 14-year-old girl from Brazil, who is a young mother supported by and guided her boyfriend’s family as well as a support group in her community.

Video: A Young Mother in Nepal

Every fifth child in the world is born to girls aged 13 to 19 years. In this video clip, you will meet Rajmaya, a 16-year-old girl from Nepal, who is a wife and mother, learning how to take care of her child with the help of family members and community support.

Video: A Young Mother in Uganda

Every fifth child in the world is born to girls aged 13 to 19 years. In this video clip, you will meet Akisa, a 15-year-old girl from Uganda, who deals with life as a young mother and member of a family that has been stricken by HIV/AIDS.

Video: Parenting in Infancy: Beng Caretaking Practice: Carrying Babies

The video footage shows young Beng infants being carried using cloths strapped to others’ backs including the back of a young child (probably 6-10 years old). This clip also shows a mother using a mortar and pestle (repetitive motion) and an infant strapped to her back being lulled to sleep by the repetitive movement.

Video: Parenting in Infancy: Beng Infant Caretaking Practice: Jewelry

This video footage shows a Beng mother making jewelry for a 4-day-old infant. Also shown in this segment is footage of mothers tying bracelets and necklaces on to young infants and using a lime to wash infants’ jewelry.

Video: Parenting in Infancy: Beng Infant Caretaking Practices: Playing

This video segment shows Beng people playing with infants. Video footage shows a mother holding and playing with a 1-month-old, young children playing instruments and showing a 6-month-old how to dance, an older sibling pushing an 8-month-old around in a cardboard box, and playing peek-a-boo with a face covering. The video clip also shows a few other examples of infant play in the Beng culture.

Video: Parenting in Infancy: Beng Infant Caretaking Practices: Speech

This video segment shows footage of Beng children saying “sorry you are feeling bad” (in their own language) to a 6-month-old infant who is sick and then repeating the appropriate male response “maaaa” to him to teach him the proper response. The clip also shows footage of a mother playing with a young girl named “Hallelujah” and repeating her name over and over to her.

Video: Parenting Styles in Early Childhood

Video: Interview with Jay Belsky

Jay Belsky has conducted research into interactions between parents (and other caregivers) and children, and the ways in which adults parent their children. In this clip, he talks about the degree to which parenting styles are learned from one’s own parents.

Video: The Theories of Lev Vygotsky

Scientific American Article: To Predict Success in Children, Look Beyond Willpower

Here are some additional resources. After you have read each resource, take the Token Quiz to test your knowledge and to earn tokens. Tokens can be spent on items in the store or to access special items in events.

Scientific American Article: To Predict Success in Children, Look Beyond Willpower

Delaying gratification is not always the rational choice

March 1, 2013

By Simon Makin

A four-year-old girl sits at a table in a featureless room. A friendly researcher places a marshmallow in front of her and tells her that if she can resist eating it for 15 minutes, he will be back with another one and she can then eat both. He leaves, and what she does next will predict her success and mental health for the rest of her life. Such is the power of the now classic marshmallow study, long thought to be a measure of self-control.

The initial research began in the late 1960s, and follow-up work has suggested that the length of time a child waits before eating the marshmallow is a better predictor than intelligence of success as an adult. A new study published last October in Cognition, however, indicates that children's behavior in such situations may not always reflect only their innate self-control. A child may also be making a rational decision on whether to trust that the second marshmallow is indeed coming soon.

Celeste Kidd, a doctoral candidate in brain and cognitive sciences at the University of Rochester and lead author of the new study, suspected there might be a common misconception about the classic marshmallow study—namely, that waiting is always the right choice. While volunteering years ago at a homeless shelter for families in Santa Ana, Calif., she realized that all the kids around her would eat their marshmallows straight away, living as they did in an environment where anything they had could be taken away at any time. “Delaying gratification is only the rational choice if the child believes a second marshmallow is likely to be delivered,” Kidd says

Although previous marshmallow-type studies have acknowledged that external factors might influence kids’ ability to wait for the bigger reward, none had directly tested for those factors’ effects. So Kidd and her colleagues ran a study in which they manipulated the reliability of their young participants’ environment. A researcher gave children with an average age of four years some poor-quality art materials and told them if they could wait, she would return with better supplies. In a “reliable” condition, she did exactly that, but in an “unreliable” condition, she returned to explain she did not have any better materials after all. A marshmallow test followed. Those in the reliable condition lasted an average of 12 minutes, whereas those in the unreliable condition lasted only three.

With that in mind, the findings of the many decades of follow-ups to the marshmallow study [see timeline below] are cast in a different light. The studies invariably point to a strong association between how long a child was able to wait before eating the marshmallow and various measures of mental health, competence and success in later life. A recent imaging study of the kids in the original study, now in their 40s, even found differences in the activity of key brain areas between those who could and could not resist temptation as children.

If Kidd is right, these differences may be the result of more than just innate self-control, such as socioeconomic status, parenting quality and other environmental factors that influence decision making. “It's incorrect to presume lack of willpower is the only relevant factor in determining children's wait times and, subsequently, the primary driver of children's successes later in life,” she says.

1972: Walter Mischel's classic “marshmallow study” is published. Preschoolers were given a treat and told that waiting 15 minutes to eat it would earn them a second marshmallow. They waited, on average, six minutes. Children who hid the marshmallow from view or who distracted themselves were able to delay gratification much longer.

1981: An experiment in pigeons produces similar results—distractions and visual obstruction helped the birds delay gratification.

1988: The children, now teenagers, who were better able to delay gratification in preschool show greater academic, emotional and social competence, including higher SAT scores.

1999: Mischel proposes a framework for willpower: a rational “know” system promotes self-control, and an emotional “go” system undermines it.

2005: At age seven children begin to understand being “of two minds,” called the Ulysses conflict. The Greek hero's conflicting desires led him to strap himself to his ship's mast so he could hear the Sirens’ song without succumbing to it.

2009: Failing to delay gratification at age four increases the risk of being overweight at age 11.

2011: The differences in Mischel's original subjects’ ability to resist temptation remain evident four decades later.

2012: A child's ability to exert self-control is also influenced by environment, a new study shows.

Reproduced with permission. Copyright © (2013) Scientific American, a division of Nature America, Inc. All rights reserved.

Look Inside

Review what we know about physical development n in early childhood in this video.

Baby Avatar will load here.