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Behaviour/development

Talk to others about child development and behaviour stages here. You can find more information on our development calendar.

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Original poster

At what age did your child know what day it is?

15 replies

TheHouseofMirth · 30/11/2010 13:30

DS who is 5 yrs old knows the names of all the days of the week but has no grasp at all of which day it is today or what order the days are in. Is this unusual? How can I help him learn?

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greentig3r · 30/11/2010 14:04

IME (preschool EYP) that sounds fine. We would do the calendar twice daily and only a few were able to tell what day it was by the time they went to school.

Most could recite the days in order as we made it into a song. To help your son, maybe you could make up a little calendar with just the days of the week and what he does each day. Look at it each morning with him- he'll soon be able to use events through the week to work it out.

mamsnet · 30/11/2010 14:36

My DD had it all well sussed by about three and a half. They did it at nursery but I think it was the buildup to the weekend and Daddy being off work that really cracked it..

fruitful · 30/11/2010 14:39

Ds is 5.8, y1, hasn't got it yet. He can't recite the days in order and he has no clue what day it is (or what time of day either, never knows whether he is eating lunch or tea).

He does know that you get two days off school after Friday, though!

maxybrown · 30/11/2010 14:51

completely normal i would say

sugarbea · 30/11/2010 16:24

I think thats quite normal too...My DS (also 5) has a colour calender that I must admit helps me too..A different colour for every work/school day (saturday and sunday being the same colour) And now he associates the colours with names.. we look at the calender in the morning so we know what books/homework/pe kit to take to school and DS knows what day it is..
It means he can help me take some responsibility getting himself organised..

p.s I can't count the number of conversations I had with ds in the summer about sunday not having anything to do with the sun shining..:o

sugarbea · 30/11/2010 16:26

that "help me" was meant to be crossed out..:)

BrandyButterPie · 30/11/2010 16:28

DD1 is 3.8 and every morning asks me what day it is. I say "tuesday" (or whatever) and she then asks what that means. So, no, she has no idea :)

bubble2bubble · 30/11/2010 17:23

Colour calendar definately the way to go. dd1 is 5 and had NO idea until I did this - she is really starting to get it now. I just cut out different coloured paper with a day on each & stuck them up on the kitchen door - it has helped so much I wish I'd done it ages ago

arabicabean · 01/12/2010 08:49

Every morning I say what day of the week it is and what we are doing that day.
I've been doing this from the beginning and now my 2.10 year old has a pretty good grasp of days, months etc. He even tells me on the previous day that the bins are to be collected the next morning (he loves watching the bin lorry!).

Tgger · 03/12/2010 19:30

Ha, my son (just 4) asked me today "Why do the days have different names?". Errrrr, good question... so we know when to do things. I guess it's a completely man-made construct, like time-telling, with clocks etc. I'm guessing cave-men didn't have days and times :)

My son knows that the weekend is different, "no school (nursery" and "Daddy's home", but other than that he hasn't really got a clue. I do tell him when we're doing things and how that fits in with today, but you can see his eyes blurring.

A funny thing to end- we'd been talking about the teachers' "INSET" day that they had last Friday, saying it was when just the teachers went in to learn, rather than the kids. Today we were making up a story and he came out with "It was bug day, just the teachers were there to learn not the pupils". Hee hee :)

1percentawake · 03/12/2010 20:05

My 3 yr old has to tell my 6 yr old what day of the week it is!! Some kids are just more interested in learning that sort of thing than others...

Original poster

TheHouseofMirth · 03/12/2010 20:41

I think you're right 1percentawake, he's always been a laid back child and isn't routine led so that makes sense.

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lunafire · 03/12/2010 20:54

DS is 6 and has started grasping the days and dates in the last 6 months or so. We gave him a basic calendar (freebie from a Chinese supermarket LOL) and he likes crossing off the days and writing special events/occasions on it and I think that really helped.

create · 03/12/2010 21:03

DS1 knew in nursery - I remember being surprised when he talked about it because it hadn't occurred to me that he was ready to learn

DS2 is 7yo and doesn't really get it yet - despite me making more effort with him

TheUnmentioned · 03/12/2010 21:07

ds usually knows, he is 3.11. it is crap because i used to say 'oh we'll go there on wednesday' which meant nothing so i could do what i liked, now he says 'mummy, its wednesday, you promised...'

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