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!

@Drylogsonly my DD is an early reader (fluent before 5) amd she gets absorbed in books (age 6) she can answer obvious questions sometimes but doesn't really get much subtext... the more she reads the less she comprehends. Now 2 too young to worry about counting, but what age do children normally get subtext, about 8?

Christ, stand down. Irrespective of what it might say online, children tend to be different. This really isn't something to worry about at all.

Rather than trying to get her to count just do lots of counting things with her, sing songs like 12345 once I caught a fish alive, or 5 little ducks, or 5 currant buns at the bakers shop. Read stories with numbers in, count things as you get them out ie if you get some of her toys out, or as you put out the cutlery or anything really. Just have fun and introduce the idea of numbers and counting rather than worrying about her reciting them or actually counting herself.

Yeah I would believe everything the internet says.

Seriously this is so bizarre. You kid is 2.5 - let it go. You are massively over worrying about a complete non issue.

You have a very very bumpy road ahead of you if you are worried about things like this already.

And for reference, you kid hasn’t read the internet rules on counting. Take a chill pill.

V interesting, isnt it? It will depend on the book I think. Preschoolers can get subtext in picture books once given time to discuss and infer and predict (yes really).
What is an example of something she didn't get age 8? Perhaps the book is simply at a too high level, despite being able to decode it.
I remember my dc1 had read all HP books before 8th birthday, gobbled them up. He then reread them numerous times and told me it's like reading a different book each time as he understands and sees more as he goes.
Meanwhile dc2 now 9 hasn't even read one! No interest! But scores in top percentile in comprehension so it hasn't effected him anyway.

There is a difference between counting to 10 and learning that each object relates to a number. So if you say one to ten to her 5 times a day for a week she will pick it up as rote learning. That doesn’t mean if you place 5 applies and ask her how many, she will be able to relate that rote knowledge to this practical application. As adults we know that this means we count to five, stop at the last number and that’s how many things there are.

I think you are focussing on the wrong thing. Counting to ten is not a sign of being good at numeracy, or even recognising that a certain shape is the number 4. If you do want to build these skills read up about it. There is a nice IG account called ‘countingwithkids’ (US based Maths teacher) who has some lovely ideas.

I wouldn't worry about this at all! I'm a teacher and mother btw. Kids can often 'count' at an early age but they have no idea what anything past 2 actually means. Even at five they'll be 'counting' away but if you give them 4 objects they won't know how many are there. The principle is called cardinality which is actual counting and doesn't come 'til much later than 2 years old. Any child at 2 who is 'counting' is just repeating sounds.

Just realised the PP has said the same thing.

It may be that your child can count but just isn't saying numbers out loud. My dc with absorb information and then will suddenly recite it all in one go. They were like this with learning to speak too. He didn't say his first words until 2 and a half but said pterodactyl as his first one and then spoke in sentences within a day. You child is still very little savour that time and let her develop at her own rate

A lot of stuff is said/written online. That doesn't make it all true. Anyone can write anything at all on the internet. There's plenty of good stuff and plenty of bollocks too.

Your child is 2.5. Stop stressing and just enjoy her as she is. Let her be a child. A two year old who can count to three and not all the way to ten is very normal. You need to chill.

I have three grown up DDs now. Two graduated with good degrees from top universities. If I am honest, I have no idea what any of them were able to count to at the age your child is. It didn't matter. We just chatted, read stories and maybe there was just a little bit of counting in the course of normal day-to-day play. Nothing else though.

@mikado1 sorry she's 6 not 8 but I'm wandering if she'll get the subtext better in a couple of years. I do think she's better than a year or so ago. Eg they I think your right she's reading books too advanced. They did to a lot of picture types learning like your describing in reception.

I think you can 'work on'these skills and naturally through use of picture books, discussing real life events and scenarios, people's feelings etc as well as tv programmes and films. These to me would be better than on harder texts that may just be beyond her for now, and that's not a negative but just in terms of the unsaid. Being able to predict in a picture book or comment on the character's feeling etc is the start of all of that.
I do notice my older dc can call a film plot for example, v early on. He knows how stories work.

Let her be 2. She will be under pressure soon enough. She is a baby.

Exactly - ONLINE!

Stop reading crap online and just have fun with your child. All kids learn at different rates.

My DS1 had a vocab of 400 words by age 2. DS2 had less than 10 coherent words at the age of 2. DD was somewhere between the two. Seven years later and DS2 is by far the most eloquently spoken with a huge vocabulary.

Thanks, it is helpful. She used to be really keen on discussing books and films but now it feels a bit like drawing blood out of a stone, we talk about lots of things so are on the right track. Last year at school they read 'I want my hat back.' very funny book where the pictures tell most the story and the bear lies. She didn't get the subtext, I wander if she would now. To be honest, it's a strange book choice as I thought the subtext was meant to amuse parents and go over the head of toddlers (subtext being the bear had eaten the rabbit)

DD is almost 3 and can count to about 12 but I don’t think it means much to her at the moment, she just says it as if it’s a nursery rhyme. Can only count accurately with me pointing and counting with her.

My point being our DDs have 19 months to learn 10 numbers - they’ll be alright!

(Assuming your DD starts 2026 - if not then you’ve got a whole year longer!)

Ok. I don't know that book. I found the Anthony Browne books great for inferring and reading into pictures etc but you can just do it naturally too with plenty of chatting, observing etc. I loved those years.

Wrt counting, I remember my dc2 just turned two, laying out his trains saying 'Another one and another one and another one'.. this was early and meaningful counting tho he wasn't saying the words in that instance. Understanding and making meaning is much more important than reciting. At the same age I remember he was able to look at two items and say that there were two of them ie on sight. None of this was me teaching it but just learned naturally alongside play and conversation.

My youngest couldn’t say many words at that age, let alone count. She got 12 x grade 9’s in her GCsE’s, and is a maths genius, so I really wouldn’t worry at all. She is so little. There can be so much competition between parents at that age and comparison, whereas they all develop at different paces in those younger years. My nephew is 3 in April and isn’t saying any words yet, let alone counting.

Yes, 2 year old development is so interesting. My sister (mathematician) told be about this tribe that had words for one, two and many, so understanding the difference between these three concepts is a foundation concept of maths. My aunt was just saying how impresed she was with her slightly older 2 year old granddaughter with counting and understanding it with objects. As a reception teacher she spent a long time teaching it, but younger children just do it naturally, then sometimes forget it! I think small parts play is good for that too. Children know how to learn innately.

Nope! Some children can’t speak properly until they're 4/5. Especially subsequent children as their older siblings tend to speak for them.
They're all different.
My DD, when she was 1/2 used to sing the 1-10 song by Charlie and the Numbers BUT in the song, certain numbers are repeated (which I think is very strange for teaching kids to count to 10 correctly). So for a long time, she thought counting to 10 was done this way. For eg. the song goes:
"1, 123, 12345, 678, 9 10, 678, 9 10 🎶
However, she couldn't count to 10 correctly until after she was 3 and I think that was only because I kept correcting her repeatedly.

Now she's 10, has a diagnosis of Autism and is categorically incapable of tying a hair tie or tying her shoelaces despite many, many attempts resulting in tears. Some things however she's frankly ace at. They're all so so different.

Wow! Well done mini-Zanatdy 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

Where? This is ridiculous

Just so it with her in songs for fun. Eg 5 little speckle frogs, zoom zoom zoom, 10 in the bed. You sing, model, hold up fingers.

my daughter is great at counting (same
age)… except sometimes She says 1,2,3,14… etc, they’re just starting to learn about number (and 1:1 correspondence, subitising etc)

"The truth is, children will recite numbers before they actually understand the concept behind them. Though every child is different, most toddlers will be able to count to 10 by the time they are two-years-old. At this point in time they are probably repeating them mostly by memory and have yet to understand what they actually mean.
This concept is known as “rote” counting. Rote counting is when a child can say numbers in order, and is mostly learned through hearing the numbers repeatedly said out loud by others. "
From " online " but it s not a requirement
If they are reciting numbers they don't understand them

Literally nobody I know in real life would even think this. This place is truly mind blowing.