Counting (age 3)

[JamieCatheryn]

DS always waits until he's ready to have a mastery of things before he really does them at all. He's 3.5 and will NOT count in order. Since age 2 he's said random numbers as if he's counting. Now he starts with 1 at least, it used to be 2,3,6,18. Now it's 1,3,6. Tell me he's not the only one, and tell me he will eventually get it. I count things with him for him to repeat, count during games, sing counting songs, I don't think there's anything teaching wise I can do to help him with it.

[Bug-a-Boo's Mama]

Sometimes DS counts in order, sometimes not. For him I think that since it is something newer, he forgets. What I would do with him is say the number and have him repeat it as I counted to ten or whatever. Maybe you can try something like that. I also find if DS is counting fast, he'll skip numbers. I usually then tell him to count the right way-nicely .

[zansmama]

I really, really don't think it matters.
I never corrected ds, and now he's 6 with a great grasp of numbers and math ideas. I think it's really important to let math be fun, and not create any stress around it.
They're just playing around with the ideas at first: knowing the sequence is not so important as the quantity.

[zeldamomma]

Originally Posted by JamieCatheryn

Tell me he's not the only one, and tell me he will eventually get it. I count things with him for him to repeat, count during games, sing counting songs, I don't think there's anything teaching wise I can do to help him with it.

Don't worry. He will eventually get it. Both my older kids did the same kind of thing and it all sorted itself out by the time they were 5 (I don't remember when exactly, but definitely by 5)

I'd stop even trying to teach him, especially if it's stressing you out.

ZM

[ChetMC]

Counting

Don't worry. A lot of kids his age aren't really counting anyway. They're just reciting the numbers in order. It's not much different than knowing a particular song or nursery rhyme until a child actually understands the relationship between the number and the quantity.

[eepster]

Enumeration is actually much more valuable than rote counting for mathmatically thinking. Anyway, this site will tell you what is typical http://www.pbs.org/parents/childdeve...thematics.html

[JamieCatheryn]

I'm only slightly concerned, it's a bit embarrassing in public when he's shouting 1,3,6 at the top of his lungs when every other child I know his age can count to 10. Just personal issues, I worry too much about being judged in general. But like I said, when he gets stuff he gets it, doesn't matter what I do. He won't say the alphabet in order either but he knows most letters and some sounds. So far he can recognize how many of something 0,1,2, and "lotta".