Every so often, I overhear a conversation between my two younger kidlets that makes me smile and clamp a hand over my mouth so I do not laugh out loud and break the spell. This afternoon, I was eavesdropping on their back-and-forth as they gave each other addition problems to attempt.
Note: Pig Jr. is four and in preschool. He technically will not see an actual addition problem until kindergarten next year. Anything he has picked up thus far has been strictly from conversations with his sisters and from asking Pig and I random math facts. Pig and I will also ask him questions in return, although we try to limit our questions to ones he can answer by using his fingers. His sister is not that kind. That's almost irrelevant, because he does not often arrive at the correct answer even when counting on his fingers.
Rooster: "What is four plus four?"
Pig Jr.: "Nine!"
Rooster: "No, it's eight."
Pig Jr.: "You're wrong!"
Rooster: "You can ask Mom. She'll tell you."
Pig Jr.: "Well, what's one hundred plus five?"
Rooster: "That's too hard for me. No fair! What is three hundred plus two hundred plus two hundred?"
Pig Jr.: *counting on his fingers* "Eight?"
Neither kidlet would have passed a mental arithmetic test, but both of them had a blast trying to ask and answer questions. They went back and forth for much longer than I expected, and both kidlets did manage to correctly answer a number of addition problems. The former math teacher in me was gloating, not because they were struggling to correctly count on their fingers, but because this was what they chose to do for fun on a Sunday afternoon. I am so proud.
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