The four and five year old's understanding of the future: a preliminary study

Abstract

A significant imbalance exists in the lack of research on young children's understandings of the future. Recent studies highlight the difficulties experienced by young people in coming to terms with the future, which is generally viewed with trepidation and ambivalence by children as young as ten years of age. While there is a growing body of research in this area, there has been very little undertaken on how younger children think about these issues. To focus our attention on younger children's understandings and attitudes in this area would improve out understanding on the development of young children's thinking on time and the future and assist us to implement strategies to counteract th..