Yesterday, today, and tomorrow...are they real? Where are they? That's what a five year old seemed to want to know as she walked with her mother down a long corridor in an airport. Tugging at her mother's sleeve, she asked, "Mommy, if we walked backwards, could we get to yesterday? "

Even though, as empathetic parents we try our best to "remember," we can't understand the world the way we once did as little children, or see the world the way our children are seeing it now. One of the things that is radically different for children and adults is our conception of "time."

Children's Concept of Time

For young children, concepts of time first form around events. It may be time to get up, time for breakfast, lunch or supper, and time for a nap. Abstractions such as "half an hour" or "a second" or "a minute" don't have much meaning. We know one understanding father who said, "Let's do this together. It will take us just about as long as it takes Mister Rogers to sing, "It's a Beautiful Day in This Neighborhood."

Family History

Even if children can't understand much about what "an hour" or "a long time ago" mean, we can make "history" come alive for them through their own family's personal history. Most children love to hear about their parents' childhood -- what did you like to play with when you were a child? What did you like to eat? What were some of your family holiday or mealtime traditions? Show your child a few photographs of your own history -- from when you were growing up, especially photos from when you were the age that your child is now. Children also love to hear about their own history -- about when they were born or the funny things they said when they were first learning to talk. Knowing about their own personal history can help them appreciate that "then" is very much connected to "now" in all of their life.

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