3 Tricks to Use When Your Kids Have No Concept of Time

How many times have you told your kids, “Five more minutes!” and then had to remind them again and again that it’s time to go home, or time to clean up, or time to get dressed? Yeah, me too. The problem is that kids (little kids especially) have very little concept of what “5 minutes” is. Not only that, but think about how many times you (i.e. full-grown adult) have gotten on Facebook or Pinterest or Instagram for “5 minutes” and looked up to see it’s been half an hour? We really can’t expect little ones who don’t have a grasp on how many seconds are in a minute, how many minutes are in an hour, etc., to know what “5 minutes” is supposed to feel like. Here are some tricks that we use to get our kids to move their little butts when we need them to.

1. Counting

2. Sand Timers

I was able to find this cute little sand timer set, and they are perfect in terms of the bright colors, the time intervals (from 1 minute to 30 minutes), the size (perfect for little hands) – we keep them right in our great room all the time, and we probably use them at least once a day for some reason or another.

We also got this other set specifically for tooth-brushing. We keep one at each kid’s sink, and the third one stays in their travel bag. This way, even though they’re probably not getting half of their tiny gappy teeth, we know they’re at least brushing for a full two minutes.

3. Wake-Up Clock

I had heard about these wake-up clocks that you can buy for little kids, and I held off for a long time before buying one. The twins are well trained, and they know that they’re supposed to wait in their bedroom in the morning until someone comes to get them. Now that they’re a little older, they are responsible for 3 things before they’re released from their room in the morning: (1) Go potty; (2) Brush teeth; and (3) Get dressed.

The problem is that they don’t have any concept of what time they actually wake up, how much time they have to read/play, and whether they should be hustling to get ready or not. This fun little clock has lots of great features that help with bedtime and, as my kids say, “wake time.”

It has a little face on it that smiles when it’s “wake time.” At 7:30, our clock, cleverly named “Mr. Clocky,” closes his eyes, letting the twins know that it is time for one more book. In the morning, Mr. Clocky opens his eyes and turns yellow at 6:20 a.m., which means it’s ok to play. At 6:50 a.m., his face turns green, letting the twins know that if they haven’t taken care of their 3 responsibilities, now is the time to get moving.

Things to try

Here are examples of things we do when we need the kids to cooperate:

1. Hurrying Up.
   • “Yes, we will have time to swim before bed if you get ready really fast. Remember, ready means (1) Get undressed, (2) go potty, (3) put your clothes in the laundry, and (4) put your swimsuit on. How long do you think you need, 5 minutes or 3 minutes?” (Spoiler: they always manage in under 3 minutes)
   • “If you can get ready for bed in 5 minutes, we’ll have time to come back downstairs and watch a show for 15 minutes before bed.” (Noah says this is no problem – he says “I got it, Mom – 2 minutes brush, 2 minutes pajamas, 1 minute potty.”)
2. Patience.
   • “Yes, Mommy will paint your nails, but you will have to wait 5 minutes before you get on the couch so it’s dry, okay?”
   • “We just put your sunscreen on; you need to wait 20 minutes before you go out into the pool.”
   • “Your pizza is still very hot. Let’s wait 5 minutes and try it then so you don’t burn your mouth.”
3. Waiting for Mom or Dad. This works wonders – my kids will play patiently and QUIETLY when they know we will be right with them, and they can see exactly how long they’ll have to wait.
   • “Yes, I will play with you as soon as I’m done with this email. Let’s turn over the 10 minute timer, and you tell me when it’s finished.”
   • When the time runs out, PLEASE keep your promise.
4. Taking Turns.
   • “Noah can play with [insert toy that both kids MUST play with RIGHT now] for 5 minutes, then Sophie gets it.”
   • “We’ll watch Frozen for 10 minutes, then Minions for 10 minutes.”

Just Remember

Think about all the things we use to keep track of time as adults – our phones, watches, Siri or Alexa – if someone were to take away all of these things, how would we manage our days? And if you were in the middle of reading an article or writing an email, and someone grabbed your phone and said, “Ok, time for bed!” – I imagine that wouldn’t go over well.

Little kids are so busy learning and absorbing everything. It is that much harder for them to stay on track and follow our adult timelines. Try out some of these tricks with your kids to help them manage their time, and let me know how they work!