...Nine, Ten, Elenvteen, Twelveteen, Thirteen...

16 February' 2018 

(3 minutes read) 

My son Talha was four when the number fight began.

He was fine till the first 2-digit-number Ten, but he disagreed that there are numbers like 11, 12, and so on.

Number beads with number flashcard

He insisted twelve is merely a one and a two written together. For him, it was not a big deal. Numbers could be friends. He'd always call them "one-two" instead of twelve.

He also thought I am simply exhausting myself by believing there are more numbers than just the ones he has already learned (1-10) and assured me he doesn't need anymore.

He showed me his fingers and his crayons and asked, "Do you see more fingers? They are ten and so is counting".

So it happened that I failed to make him consider counting objects that were more than ten.

Then it struck me he doesn't feel the NEED to count as I haven't created it.

Realizing the mistake, I quickly corrected myself, always having bowls filled with numbers >10; 14 paper clips, 17 raw pasta pieces, 13 counters, 11 cloth pins and so on.

Kids love counters

All my plans came crashing to the ground when he very causally counted only ten of each object and asked me to take away the rest.

I thought harder and harder to try some other ideas. Something that was more than 10 (wwaayyy more than ten and he can't take it away) was right there with him all along, his HAIR!

So I pointed at his head, "you have more than ten hairs on your head, so there is a need to learn more numbers".

He looked at me, nodded, "I only brush my hair, don't count them."

I  have to be smarter than a 4-year-old if I am ever going to teach him math!

A 10 and a four

And that was the end of all my plans to teach him math. 

One day while coming back from school and climbing stairs, he started counting and told me, "Look mama!, I am so strong I'm gonna climb to 10!". 

Light Bulb.

"Oh, Talha! I know you are so brave and strong you'll easily climb 24 stairs!"

And from that day, he counted and counted on!