{"id":4477,"date":"2016-06-01T12:05:00","date_gmt":"2016-06-01T12:05:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/childanxietysupport.com\/?p=4477"},"modified":"2023-06-01T12:22:40","modified_gmt":"2023-06-01T12:22:40","slug":"4477-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/childanxietysupport.com\/4477-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Kids, Impulse Control and Public Spaces"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I was not at the Cincinnati Zoo when that 4-year old bolted from his mom into the enclosure<\/a>. I am not an expert on gorillas or on zoo design. I don\u2019t know the child in question or his parents (some reports state dad was there, too, although he\u2019s not come under fire like mom has). We do know that it was a tragedy \u2014 a child (and his family and the bystanders) were traumatized, a 17-year old gorilla lost his life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Preschoolers are developing their impulse control; they don\u2019t already have it. You might have heard about the Stanford Marshmallow Experiment<\/a>. That\u2019s the test where researchers sat down with children 4 to 6 years old and gave them a marshmallow. The researcher tells the child something like, I need to leave and you can eat that marshmallow or you can wait and then you\u2019ll get a second marshmallow when I get back. Then the researcher leaves the room and observes what the child does through a one-way mirror. And what they found is that the younger a child is the more likely they are to eat the marshmallow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Young preschoolers, they are bird (marshmallow) in hand type people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And then there are those children who have a harder time with impulse control. Those kids tend to be more active, less scared, more persistent (the ones who will nag nag nag you) and less concerned about punishment and reward. They are kids who live in the RIGHT NOW. These are the ones who eat the marshmallow before the door finishes closing behind the researcher. That\u2019s a temperament thing; some kids just have more impulsive personalities than other kids and will need more support, understanding and opportunity to develop their self-control.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Back to that marshmallow test. They\u2019ve looked at it a lot over the years and one of the things they\u2019ve found is that children are able to delay gratification (be less impulsive) when their environment is \u201creliable,\u201d i.e., when their environment is more predictable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here\u2019s a video that explains that:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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