Cookie Experiment

We tried this on Gabi when she was Bella's age. Annabelle just celebrated her 4th birthday, so now it's her turn.

Bella had asked to bake some cookies, so Michael helped her in the kitchen. Then, of course, she wanted to eat her cookies. Can she prevent herself from eating the cookie on her plate in order to earn a second cookie later?



Notice how well Annabelle is attending to Michael at the beginning. I'd like to point out that, initially, Michael put a cookie in front of her and said, "You can eat this now if you want to." Bella promptly picked up the cookie and took a bite, before Michael could explain the deal. Ha-ha! So he took the cookie away, restarted the video, and tried again. :) You decide whether that counts as being able to delay gratification.

Michael added the annotations. My favorite is the caption at 1:02 -- "Kid instinct: see cookie, must eat. Oh... right... waiting..."

I love Bella's tactic here. "Okay, so I get one cookie now, or two cookies after you go on a walk... so... can I go on a walk with you? Or, better yet, while I'm waiting, can I ride in the chariot behind Mommy's bike?" We just bought the chariot (bike trailer), and the family we bought it from forgot to bring the flag that helps cars see the trailer, so she'll have to bring that part later.

"Okay, fine, so I don't get to go on the walk. I guess I'm supposed to sit here. I'll just... go potty. And then... I'll try talking to Mommy, who I can't see, but I know she's in the other room."

Man, it was heart-breaking to have to ignore her when she tried to strike up an unrelated conversation! "Mommy, what's your favorite animal?" Oh, she looks so sad in the video when I didn't respond to her at all!

But, again, she's a smart girl. If she can't eat the cookie now, why bother sitting there? She goes to find me (and I feign sleep). But then Daddy returns, so she quickly runs back as if her self-control might not count if she didn't stay at the table by the cookie.