London - They are renowned for throwing tantrums when they think they’ve been treated unfairly.
But it could be that toddlers just have a strong sense of justice.
According to researchers, children as young as three show concern for the welfare of others.
In experiments in which a puppet “stole” a biscuit, three and five-year-olds would then try to return it to its rightful owner.
They were just as likely to do this if the biscuit had been taken from themselves or someone else - including another puppet.
Manchester University researcher Dr Keith Jensen said: “We’ve not seen this behaviour in children this young before. It indicates that pre-school children act out of concern for the welfare of the victim.” The experiments, published in the journal Current Biology, also showed children preferred returning the biscuit to its owner to punishing the thief by placing it out of their reach.
The results suggest that rather than punishing children for hurting others, it might be a good idea for parents to simply explain to toddlers the consequences their actions have on other people.
The researchers said: “It appears that a sense of justice centred on harm caused to victims emerges in early childhood.
“The take-home message is that pre-school children are sensitive to harm to others, and would rather restore things to help the victim than punish the perpetrator.”
Daily Mail