My question stems from an article I read, which says
Parents are presenting a clear choice for the child. ... For example, “If you sit on the steps, it will be for 10 min. If you do not sit on the steps, you will have to stay in the house for the rest of the day, three more hours. Ten minutes is shorter than 3 h.” With younger children, some parents have drawn timelines for the child to illustrate, for example, how 10 min is shorter than 3 h.
And my question is, how do I illustrate that?
I've also seen that a 4 year old I know cannot grasp what 1 hour (or any amount of time for that matter) means for him. Yes, the hour hand moves from one number to another, but how long does it take to do that? Even adults sometimes lose track of time, and 1 hour may sometimes seem much longer or much shorter, but we have a basic understanding or expectation of what 1 hour feels like. We wouldn't look at the clock to see if 1 hour has passed yet, after just 2 minutes.
At what age will a child get a basic sense of how much time has passed or is yet to pass? How can parents help the child understand?