How do babies and children perceive the concept of time?

Until the age of five children are not supposed to estimate time - so how do you describe it to them so that they will understand?

Daniel Sarantsky, in collaboration with JAMA

10/05/2022

Tuesday, 10 May 2022, 06:22 Updated: 07:25

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How many times do you feel like saying to your child "It will only take me a minute!"

Or "We're late, already eighteen," but it seems that he just will not fully understand what you mean?

You are not mistaken, it really will not come down to the end of your mind, and this is because babies and children (up to the age of five at least) have no estimate of times.

, Diagnoses and treats holistic therapeutic sports and sleep consultant and infant massage, explains that the phrase "mother goes for five minutes" the child will understand simply as "mother goes" and its meaning may create tension at worst, and at best - simply misunderstanding and wondering when she will return.

This also applies to more abstract time descriptions, such as pregnancy, when expecting a new baby at home.

Toddlers, of course, will not have the understanding of nine months or 40 weeks, so using such terms will not tell them anything.

Dorit recommends telling about the baby that grew in your womb when the womb grew and the child notices this and saying briefly: "We are expecting a new baby" and adding a time definition that he will understand like: "he will come when you start going to kindergarten", or "after winter ends", without expanding too much.

Similarly, when the emphasis is on actions.

For example: "Mom goes for a drink and comes back to cover you" or "The day after kindergarten we will go to the garden".

Real time understanding will occur, usually, after the child knows how to recognize numbers and then learns to read an analog clock by recognizing the numbers on it.

In the meantime, if you want to add an element of play in conveying the concept of time to a child, there are hourglasses that can be used when you want to set a time for a particular action.

For example, set an hourglass and tell the child that when all the sand goes down from the top to the bottom - it's time to go to the bathroom.

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Babies and children (up to the age of five at least) do not have an estimate of times (Photo: ShutterStock)

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