Thanks to learning the hard way, I know how important it is to teach children how to wait: Not to just think of the “now,” but think of the big picture and how their choices might impact their future.

So, I got tickled when a friend sent me this link about “the marshmallow project.”

A researcher in the video tells children of various young ages to sit in a chair at a table, with a marshmallow in front of them. She tells them she’s going to leave the room. The child can eat the marshmallow right away, or they can wait … and if they wait, they can get a second marshmallow to eat when she returns.

Oh, you ought to watch the video and see how funny a few of the kids look, as they wrinkle their noses and roll those treats around in their hands, trying to remember not to eat them right away.

They say the children who choose to wait for the reward tend to be more successful later in life.

I think I might try this at home. Thanks to bags and bags of leftovers from a recent bonfire party, we surely have enough marshmallows at home to play this game all day long, for weeks … HAHA!

What do you think?