The child and time – Interdisciplinary intersections

Abstract

This study explores the multifaceted relationship between childhood and the perception of time, iąnterpreting time not merely as a physical parameter but as a biological and social construct. The author provides a broad overview of the history of science, spanning from the physical foundations laid by Newton and Einstein and the popular science work of Stephen Hawking to the structural perspectives of time in historical scholarship (Braudel, Koselleck, Spengler). The central focus of the paper is the nature of „personal time” and „subjective time” in the context of child development. The study discusses the „time-worlds” of the school, contrasting the cyclicity of the academic year with linear progression. A chapter is dedicated to generational theories (Mannheim, Strauss–Howe) and their contemporary Hungarian representatives, critically juxtaposing these categorizations with the findings of modern neuroscience. The latter highlight universal laws of brain development in children that may override technology-based generational stereotypes. In conclusion, the author demonstrates the practical and developmental role of time and rhythm through András Pető’s system of conductive education. The study concludes that it is the responsibility of pedagogy to create a balance between objective time structures and the inherent, internal rhythm of childhood.