Preschoolers: Understanding time & age

Since preschoolers tend to be in the stage where they are primarily focusing on the alphabet and numbers they normally don’t have much math down (besides simple counting). Because of that, if they attempt to measure you or do any type of mathematical thinking they only use what they know. This makes answers to questions about directions, ages, and measurements quite funny. For example, just recently I was being measured by a 3-year-old. When I asked her how tall I was she said I was “exactly 6-years-old.” Again, just this week, I realized that my kids know how old they are but they don’t quite know how long they have been around.

This is what happened…

The question came up when one of the preschoolers was explaining very dramatically how she’d never seen a rainbow in her “whole entire life.” I thought it was funny considering her whole entire life is a total of four whole years. Expecting a fun response I said, “And exactly how long have you been living?” to my delight, she then put her hands parallel about 1 foot apart and said “This much.”

Trying to help her along in logic (I can’t help myself) I said, “I’m 24 years old and I’ve been living for 24 years.” Then I asked her, “How old are you?” She said, “4” and I said “And how long have you been living?” Then she changed her answer and said, “41.” Yup, NOT 41 years NOT 41 days NOT 41 months, just simply 41.

So I went to the next one sitting at the lunch table.

Me: How old are you Jenny?

Jenny: 3

Me: And Jenny how long have you been living?

Jenny: 25 metals

*she calls miles “metals”

For your further enjoyment…J

Me: How long have you been living Katie?

Katie: April 7

*kids are used to people asking them their birthdays I suppose J

                 

Me: How long have you been living Sarah?
Sarah: 2 times because I was a baby

*oh so that’s why                 

Me: Micah, how long have you been living?

Micah: 15 years and that would be a 100

*aha, I see…

                 

Me: Patrick, how long have you been living?

Patrick: 100 days

*Wow, that’s pretty long

Me: How long have you been living Abby?

Abby: 16 and then 7

*It was said so matter-of-fact

Me: “How long have you been living, Laney?”

Laney: “4 hours, actually 5, no actually 6”

* okay, so you’ve been on earth for 6 hours then

                 

Me: “How long have you been living Sam?

Sam: “100.

*again, just a simple number. A bigger one though this time.

See for yourself: If you have a preschooler in your life ask them a question that has to do with directions, or people’s ages, height, time or even pay. If you are looking for a laugh, I promise this won’t let you down.

Yes, I LOVE my job.