DS aged 3.9 is stood on our gate …

Is it?

So tell me how 3yrs, 10mths is written in this decimal form that is annoyingly common on MN? Or 3yrs 11mths, how is that written?

It's so frustrating to see it in so many posts because there are 12 months in a year, not 10, so using decimals does not work!!

Someone says, my son is 3.5 - do they mean 3.5yrs old or do they mean this weird decimal point age that actually, no, they're not 3.5yrs, they are 3yrs 5mths. It's so ridiculous and doesn't make sense.

As for your HV doing it - that doesn't surprise me in the slightest, they're not exactly known for being the sharpest tools in the box.

It’s very common on MN to say 3.9 (for example) as 3years 9 months. I’ve seen our health visitor do the same so although it might be different ro what you’re used to, it’s entirely normal.

Doubt the weight of a 3 year old could damage the structural integrity that much.

0.9 of a year is 10.8 months.

They were probably just trying to be helpful since you clearly weren't aware that what he was doing would damage the gate.

Was there really a need to be so rude?

First to write a comment on a missed apostrophe 🙄
Then to state I didn't need to understand it beyond that, if that's the case, why type it in the first place? The OP made it clear she was trying to show age because being closer to 4 is different to being closer to 3 when speaking of younger children, which I completely agree with. Your comments are just beyond rude.

ETA - I had actually thought you were being helpful when you pointed out the missed apostrophe, hence why I kindly thanked you. Obviously now, I know you were being deliberately rude.

Silence!!!
The decimal winds me up too but I wouldn’t be so rude as to say it 😆

It’s less than 4 and more than 3.

You don’t need to understand it beyond that. Although now you’ve had explained to you extensively, I hope you have grasped some understanding of it.

No, I didn't, which is exactly why I questioned it at the start of the thread! I asked OP what 3.9 even meant as writing ages like this does not make any sense to me.

I said I've seen people write ages like this loads on MN & Facebook, but I've never bloody understood what it means. I thought this was clear from my many comments about this!!

Camel’s back*

I've seen this usage loads of times on MN & Facebook too and I've never called it out before, but you know what, this was the straw that broke the camels back!! It really irks me! If it's not to signify a decimal, then the people using it are too bloody lazy to use yr & mth which are short. Using a . is exceptionally lazy.

I've ignored the "stood" stuff, as where I'm from, we'd use stood too 😂

So you understood her meaning and were familiar with the usage?

I've seen this usage loads of times on MN & Facebook too and I've never called it out before, but you know what, this was the straw that broke the camels back!! It really irks me! If it's not to signify a decimal, then the people using it are too bloody lazy to use yr & mth which are short. Using a . is exceptionally lazy.

I've ignored the "stood" stuff, as where I'm from, we'd use stood too 😂

They're not using the dot to signify a decimal (i.e. ten), they're using it to separate the units - years and months.

Given it's referring to an age, the meaning is pretty clear - who knows their DC's age as a decimal, bar a half?

And given there are 12 months in a year and x/12 and x/10 are pretty similar, it doesn't actually matter if it's misunderstood.

I've seen this usage loads of times on MN and have never seen it called out before, I think OP has had a tough time because she's used <gasp> stood rather than standing which apparently opens her to (unjustified) nitpicking.

Genuinely, who gives a flying fuck?

So tell me how 3yrs, 10mths is written in this decimal form that is annoyingly common on MN? Or 3yrs 11mths, how is that written?

It's so frustrating to see it in so many posts because there are 12 months in a year, not 10, so using decimals does not work!!

Someone says, my son is 3.5 - do they mean 3.5yrs old or do they mean this weird decimal point age that actually, no, they're not 3.5yrs, they are 3yrs 5mths. It's so ridiculous and doesn't make sense.

As for your HV doing it - that doesn't surprise me in the slightest, they're not exactly known for being the sharpest tools in the box.

agreed.
and they will be further confused by the use of 'further' to relate to a measurable dimension.
i think the correct word here is
'farther'.

Who cares what 3.9 means?

If the 9 is for mths, he's 3yrs 9mths. If the 9 is a decimal, then he's 3 yrs, 10mths and 24 days. Hardly any difference at all, and has no impact on whether the OP should let him swing on her own gate or not.

Yes, it's common to use months with age of youngsters, but the normal way to write it is "my 3yr 9mths old", or "my almost 4yr old" - 3.9 isn't an age. It would only be an accurate way to describe an age if there were 10 months in the year!

I think at ages 1, 2 and 3 months matter. There’s a huge difference between a just turned 3 year old and one who is approaching four.

It’s very common on MN to say 3.9 (for example) as 3years 9 months. I’ve seen our health visitor do the same so although it might be different ro what you’re used to, it’s entirely normal.