So far my stepdaughter is flying ahead in all of her subjects except time. She can tell time now on an analog clock which is good, but it doesn't MEAN anything to her. It's getting to the point where it's starting to hurt her (and us). We've drilled the 60 seconds in a minute, 60 minutes in an hour up through 52 weeks in a year, 365 days in a year etc. She knows that. If you ask her what a day is, she'll tell you 24 hours, or that you cycle through when the sun comes up to when it goes down and comes up again. Somehow a practical connection is not being made. We worked through an entire workbook that went through things like what "the day after tomorrow" or "the day before yesterday" mean. And yet she'll still ask "are we going to papaw's the day before yesterday?" Or she'll tell us she went to the store with mommy at midnight. Or that she hasn't brushed her teeth in months. Or the latest, "I've had this cough for a year" (really only a couple of days.) She's even told us that her mom will come pick her up at twelve sixty. We've had her sit with a stopwatch and watch the seconds turn into minutes. We've talked about how long things take in terms of minutes versus hours (It takes minutes to brush your teeth, it takes an hour to drive to papaws, your tumbling class is one hour long, Hannah Montana is on for a half an hour). Any ideas? Her friends are starting to look at her like she's dumb (and hurting her feelings) when she says things like "We've been doing gymnastics for five hours" and her friends say "It's only ONE hour, duh!" Also, it makes us look like really bad parents to her mom (and vice versa) when she tells the other she went to bed at midnight (to her midnight is "night" even though we've corrected her many times). We're frazzled!
http://shine.yahoo.com/channel/parenting/minutes-days-and-months-helping-your-preschooler-understand-time-349893/
JMO: I think time is something some kids get right off the bat the way you've been approaching it with your DsD. And I think other kids have to internalize it all through daily experience. At my house, we do calendar time every weekday - and during the week, we talk about weekends. I have a big dry erase perpetual calendar. Each of my older boys (6 & 4) also have a personal agenda book. They write in them daily, even if it's just noting the weather. Now, I started this for other reasons, but I am seeing some of the same types of issues you mention, so I am glad I have been doing something that is sort of "around the corner thinking" to help out. Couple examples from my house: the 4yo will consistently mix up meal names. At 5 PM, he'll tell me it's getting close to lunch. My 6yo does some of the exact things you talk about - he's ahead in many other areas, too. He'll talk about how it takes hours to do this thing, or he's been playing a particular game forever. He really has no clue what he's talking about. I think it's almost as if he's trying on phrases he's heard here and there to see how well they "fit." Honestly, what really drive *me* crazy is that my 4yo picks up on phrases from my 6yo...so now they're BOTH using time descriptors incorrectly! My hope is that the 4yo will also pick up on the correct statements more quickly since he has a "head start." As far as other kids commenting: While it's never fun to see your child get hurt feelings, this may be one of those areas where we, as parent, take it harder than the children. Kids let A LOT roll of their backs, and if they don't...well, with my 6yo, sometimes it will dawn on huim something IS important if one of his peers points out the significance to him (as opposed to old boring mom, you know). On the same note, my 6yo is starting (yes, starting) to get that certain things happen at certain specific times. This has motivated him to consider the clock in a different way, not so much a novelty but a relevant source of information. So, for me, this is turning out to be a developmental, when-they're-ready-they-do-it issue. We keep talking about it, working on time telling, playing what-do-we-do-at-what-time-of-day/week/year games, but I do not worry about it.
I think it's just normal. I don't know if you mentioned your daughters age (I didn't see it), but it is very normal. My kids still have problems with the concept of time. My son will say things like your daughter does about it's taking hours, when it's not, etc. In MHO I think that as long as she's able to tell time that the rest will fall into place. Just subtly tell her as you have been doing about time passing. She'll get it eventually, just don't make a big deal about it. If the other kid and her parents are going to be that critical then I think that's a bigger issue. My kids say things like that all the time too! We didn't have dinner last night (they are thinking that it wasn't night time) or we went to bed at midnight (it's happened to us too,lol) or we did school for an hour (when it was really a full day). Hopefully they'll just understand...if not, don't worry about it. If they're going to be that negative it'll be either about this or they'll find something else, lol....haters usually tend to.
I think this is not only a developmental issue, but also a personality issue. My eldest daughter at 6, got up on her own, made bkfst, packed her lunch and knew not only how much time it took her to get ready, but what time she had to leave to catch the bus. My eldest son however, at 11 still gets time wrong...minutes and hours confused...can tell you how many months in a year, but doesn't quite understand that "in a month" means about 30 days and that "next month" could be a few days. He also fairly regularly mixes up yesterday and tomorrow. His friends do look at him funny...and correct him, but like eye of the storm said...it doesn't really phase him. Now, we are noticing that names and labels for things is an issue for him. He understands concepts, but the correct name just doesn't come quickly if at all. It is that way with people too. His grandfather was the same way and we still laugh at his spoonerisms and flubs. Now, the childs mother is a whole different story, because you have to stay on her good side, eh. So, ask her if she has noticed this difficulty with dd and if she can help by paying attention and gently correcting. We also use things that the kids understand, like if it is going to take an hour...that is two MASH episodes.... two hours is more like a movie... It takes 15 min to walk to school, and 7 min to run. My younger son wears a watch and is interested in time...it is just different with different kids.
Thanks for the suggestions! I like the website (thanks!) even though my SD is 7-years old she doesn't have the concepts yet. We don't have her every day, so I imagine it's hard for her to get in a "groove" as far as time is concerned. We have a morning schedule we like her to follow so things become habits, but her mom doesn't have her do anything like that. I like the suggestion of having "calendar time." We were doing that but then it seemed like she "got it" because she seemed to know what day it was. We don't realize that she doesn't REALLY get it until she says something that doesn't make sense and is puzzled when we correct her. We need to go back to having her mark off the days on the calendar. I also read the suggestion on having her estimate how much time it takes to do something. My husband has a stopwatch so we can turn it into a game. Any more suggestions welcome!
I believe telling time is like doing math. It has to be done daily, or often it is forgotten. Eventually it sticks but it takes time, even years.
