Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Counting on Baby

Ethan is thrilled to be getting a baby brother. At dinner a few weeks ago, when we were sharing our anticipations about baby's arrival, Ethan shared this plan.


"Mom, I'm going to teach the baby everything I know about math so that when he goes to Kindergarten, he will already know everything I know," he said.


My heart swelled. Ethan loves math and is intuitively good at it. How sweet that he wants to pass on to his baby brother his passion. Of course, I also felt compelled to point out to Ethan that he will start high school on the same day the baby will start Kindergarten. (Dwell on that for a moment, mommy.)


But he was nonplussed. "Okay. I can do that." Such confidence. I asked him where he'd start.


"With multiplication facts."


Hmm. I asked him, "Buddy, do you think there is something the baby will need to learn before he tackles multiplication?"


"Like what?" he asked with wonder.


I suggested that maybe addition and subtraction may precede multiplication.


"But mom, you don't learn addition and subtraction, you just know it!"

I took a deep breath and shared the truth of infancy with him. I slowly explained that the baby will need to learn what numbers mean before he adds or subtracts or multiplies or divides. We will have to teach him what numbers mean, I told Ethan, by showing him groups of objects. We will have to teach him to count. We will have to teach him to recognize the Arabic numerals.

And for once in his life, Ethan was speechless. His expression told all. Mom, his face screamed, what kind of a moron are you giving birth to?