One Cookie, Two Cookies

What is one lesson you think of right away when teaching self-control: The Cookie Test 

Do you know it? I think it is done using marshmallows.  But I'm using cookies! Yum! This test has been used for years! Mostly for younger (3/4 year olds) I gave the students one cookie at their desk.  I tell them that I have to go to the bathroom. I tell them that they can eat it now or wait when I get back and I will give them another one. 

Before I even left the room, two students ate the cookie.  I didn't show any emotion. I simply walked and "went to the bathroom".  I came back after a couple of minutes.  

Those two students were in tears. Five other students ate the cookie when I was gone.  A third of my class didn't have the self-control to wait for another cookie.  

Those two students were in tears because when I left the students that waited told them they weren't getting another cookie. They were sad because they weren't getting another one.  

The student 2/3 of the class did get their second cookie.  Now the 1/3 of the class that didn't wait, it wasn't a shocker. I'm sure as you are reading this you are thinking of those students that wouldn't wait either. We all have them.  And we love them.  But our job is to give them the tools to wait. 

This is a great experiment, but what now? Stay tuned...