I was working with a small group of kids today and I wanted to see if they could resist temptation.  I explained that a study had been done over 30 years ago where kids were given a marshmallow and told if they resisted eating it right away they would get another marshmallow at the end of the “lesson”.  Some kids resisted.  Some didn’t.

Here’s the interesting part…these marshmallow kids were followed for over 30 years.  According to the study, those who were able to delay their gratification for the marshmallow tended to have more secure, better paying jobs and healthy relationships with their spouses.

I tell all of this to the kids and they offer their explanations of what they think the study meant.  I was pretty impressed with their thinking.  They compared the ability to resist the marshmallow with the ability to resist spending money.  And they all thought that was a good idea.

Then I offer them temptation.  I had brought in a variety of candy…Twix, milk duds, and the like.  Each kid got to pick which one he/she wanted.  I then had them open the candy and, as silly as it sounds, I had them smell it…caress it…lick it.  Sometimes being goofy has a greater impact on the lesson.

Once we were done salivating over our candy I told them to place it on the wrapper in front of them.  They could choose to eat the candy at any time during the 2 1/2 hour class.  Or, they could wait until the end of class.  Those who had not eaten the candy bar by the end of class would get another one.  In other words, they’d walk away with two candy bars.

Much to my surprise, three of the seven kids ate the candy.  Even after our discussion on the virtue of delaying gratification.  One said it was just too tempting to smell the candy and not be able to eat it.  Same story with the second kid.  And the third described how he rarely gets to eat at McDonald’s and has never had a soda.  He said that chocolate wasn’t good for you, that it makes you hyper.  So he ate his milk duds.

At the end of class, four kids left with two candy bars.  Three left with nothing.  And I left wondering what these kids would be like in 30 years.