The Marshmallow Test

I got this from my Career Skills teacher, Karen Pool. She got it from her reading-she does a whole lot of it. When a child is about 4 years old you should begin the marshmallow test. It should be repeated every six months or so as the child will learn from it’s subtleness. Children who eventually pass, retest repeatedly, and those who pass repeatedly again tend to not go into debt and do much better in life through relationships as well as financially. So for caring parents the motivation is there to employ the marshmallow test.

Set the child at the kitchen table and explain to them that you’re going to give them the marshmallow test. There is no right or wrong answer. Place two saucers on the table. Open the bag of marshmallows and let the child smell the freshly opened bag. Have the child count with you as you place one marshmallow on one plate and four marshmallows on the 2nd plate. Put the bag of marshmallows away.

Explain to the child that you are going to place the plate with four marshmallows in the cupboard for 10- (20 if they’re six or older) minutes and then set the timer, leaving the plate with one on the table an arms length in front of them. Let them know also that you are going to let them make a decision. They can have the one marshmallow immediately or they can wait for the timer to go off and they can have the four marshmallows, their choice. Tell the child that you will let them have their privacy as they make their decision so will be in the next room.

Put the plate with four in the cupboard, set the timer for 10 minutes and walk away. When the timer goes off, return and check on the child. Let the child know you’re sure it was a challenging decision for them to make but that they made a good one. Give the child a hug. If they ate the one, put the other four back in the marshmallow bag and while walking away say we can try this test again in another six months or so.

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