6 Amazing Ways Your Perception Of Time Changes

5. Rudimentary

When infants and toddlers become little kids, they start getting a basic grasp on the concept of time. My daughter is five; she knows how many years old she is and what the days of the week are...but even then, she still doesn't really grasp the concept. Although she's learning what the numbers represent on the clock, they still have little true meaning to her. Her perception of time is really limited to the here and now. If she asks how long it is until we go somewhere and we tell her thirty minutes, she doesn't really understand that yet. If you tell her we're leaving in the amount of time it takes her to watch a Good Luck Charlie episode, she understands it slightly better. If she asks how far away her birthday is and I tell her four months, that amount of time is so inconceivable to her that I might as well try to explain the plot of Donnie Darko to her. She might have a better shot of understanding that. Yesterday I took her to an Imagination Movers concert (worth 500 Daddy points so I can watch Sunday football in peace) and every two minutes it was "How long until it starts, Daddy?" Parents reflexively throw out "Pretty soon" because honestly, it's just easier. If I tell her ten minutes, it means little to nothing at this stage.