Quote 34
Waiting for my cake takes hour and hours. (1.215)
Unless the cake is burned black by the time it comes out of the oven, there's no way it takes this long to bake. Jack just thinks it takes so long, because it does take so long in kid time… when he's not doing something to keep his mind occupied, time goes by so slowly.
"Next week when I'll be six you better get candles." "Next year," says Ma, "you mean next year." Her eyes are shut. They always do that sometimes and she doesn't say anything for a minute. (1.251-1.252)
Jack doesn't understand the difference between a week and a year, because both are still an insane amount of time for a five-year-old. Ma, however, does understand the difference, and she cannot bear having to spend another year trapped inside Room.
Quote 36
[Ma] gets sick of things fast, it's from being an adult. (1.497)
It's true that kids have longer attention spans than adults, at least when it comes to certain things. But being forced to entertain himself with very little, Jack has a very long attention span compared to most other kids. When he's doing stuff that he loves, it doesn't feel like any time is passing at all, whereas time seems to be dragging and dragging for poor Ma, having to read Dylan the Digger over and over again.