To think dd should be able to count to at least 5 by now?

[Gappp]

She’s 2 and six months and can only count to three and I’ve tried so many times to get her to do more. I’ve read by school they should be able to count to ten? I can’t see this happening at this rate!

Yabu to worry about this at 2.5 years!

They learn very quickly when the right time comes, relax and enjoy watching her playing- you have a whole school period to worry about her academic learning.

There are absolutely no 'shoulds' at her age. She will build on being able to count to three in her own time. Please don't worry. (Preschool practitioner for 20 years here.)

It says online count to ten by 2!

Chill. Mine couldn't speak at that age and he's fine now.

Aw, bless her! She'll come on in leaps and bounds and as long as she's reaching her other milestones I wouldn't worry.

I thought this was going to be about a 4 or 5 year old. It really really doesn't mean anything at this age, lots of kids can't count to 5 at this age. I can't even remember what age mine learnt to count to 5, except for my middle boy because he couldn't count to 10 at 5 years old. He's 9 now and topping his year in maths and doing extension work over a year ahead.

I think at 2.5 don’t worry, keep making sure there is plenty of exposure to number but don’t put pressure on. Does she retain other information? Are her nursery teachers worried? I’m sure she’ll be fine and get there when she’s ready.

Relax, it will come when she’s ready. Any attempt to teach children before they are ready is likely to result in them putting up barriers and they will sense your uneasiness about it (as much as you think you’re hiding it)
Just play, keep counting objects during play-steps, jumps, claps, raspberries etc with no pressure for her to join in.
She will first learn to say the numbers in order (recite) and eventually will actually count each one number to each object (count) there is a difference.

Development Matters 2021 - Government document of how children should develop from birth in different areas. This is what nurseries and schools use to track children's progress.

It does not say they need to count to 10 by 2 years old!!!

(My DS couldn't talk really until he was around 3. He loves Maths now at 6.)

Does it say count or recite numbers? They are two different things. The development matters document is a better judge of what is expected when rather than a random online!

So the Development Matters document image is blurry, not sure why MN don't have better resolution like they used to have, but the image I posted is for birth to 3 for mathematics and nowhere on there does it say 'count to 10'. Or even to 5.

Where did you get your info, OP?

I teach teenagers. They inhabit a world nowadays where the stress they are under is huge. Many are anxious and a good few refuse school.

My best advice would be to stop worrying about these tiny milestones because at this age it really doesn't matter (I've taught infant school in the past and there's a huge variation at school entry which often doesn't predict as much as you'd think).

What matters is building a happy, confident child who can play, have fun and enjoys life. That's going to set them up for getting through their GCSEs and A levels in the future so much more than worrying about whether they can count enough at 2.

Stop trying to get her to do more, and just watch with curiosity what she can and can't do in ordinary circumstances and while playing - the very last thing you want to do is put her off playing with numbers.

"Counting" is actually interestingly many skills. For example, ability to say the sequence of numbers is different from the ability to recognise how many things are in a group of items is different from being able to count things by one to one correspondence. It can be really surprising what children can and can't do. I forget exactly what it was and what age, but when mine (who went on to be extremely mathematically minded) was, I thought, completely fluent with counting and using numbers, I read somewhere about a developmental stage he "should" be at where he'd be able to answer "which is bigger, 4 or 5?" but not "which is bigger, 8 or 9?" - or something like that, where as adults we'd think, well, he knows about numbers way higher than 9 and he understands bigger/smaller, so surely he'll be able to do both. So I asked him. Blow me down, he couldn't do the thing I'd been sure he'd be able to do. Development is weird, but maybe growing an adult brain just would be!

I don't know where you are getting that from. I've been retired for 10 years but The Early Years Foundation Stage Guidelines used to say they would be expected to count up to 10 objects (not just say the numbers) by the end of the Reception year. I doubt if it has changed that drastically.

Do lots of counting and finger rhymes with her so she is familiar with the number names and associates them.with objects. E.g. 5 currant buns in the Baker's shop using fingers or buttons or anything to represent the buns taking one away each time.

Lots of children can count to five or even ten at that age but it's just sounds to them so it doesn't matter at all. They've literally just memorised five consecutive sounds that they hear quite often. Actual counting is when they have an understanding of what each number means and that comes an after 2 and a half.

Oh well, if you saw it on the internet, it must be true....

Where?!

Relax, OP. Kindly, this is ridiculous.

It’s not like she has to add a number every three months to get there. Once the concept clicks she’ll probably get all the numbers in a couple of days.

I wouldn't worry just yet. We had story books and sang lots of nursery rhymes which involved counting. Had a great book with 5 little ducks which disappeared and then came back which they loved at that age.

My daughter is 9. I spent so much time worrying about her being ‘behind’

she was a slow talker, potty trained, reader, swimmer and I stressed about all of these instead of just enjoying her.

2.5 is very small still, if you want to help maybe put number blocks on iplayer to watch

My sister didn't speak almost at all until 3. Then spoke full sentences and could read chapter books by 4. She went to Oxford and is very clever. Don't stress

Let her enjoy being 2! There is lots of time for her to learn to count.

play games and sing songs that include numbers yes but don’t worry about what she can and can’t do!

Ds could count to 10 by the age of 2. We put it down to his inhalers being done to the count of 10 so he heard it over and over and repeated it.

I can pretty confidently say that had no impact on his maths understanding as he got older though. It was just repetition.

Please get a grip. You’ve got a long slog of worrying ahead if this is a “thing” for you.