Shocked about what ds's friend aged 6 can't do ...

[Easy]

Today We took ds's friend (well his girlfriend, according to him) for an outing, our first time with this friend. Now I know my ds is advanced for 6 (everyone tells me so), but I was shocked to find that she
a) is unable to fasten a car seatbelt herself (her mum put her in my car as we went, she couldn't fasten it herself for the return journey)
b) Doesn't know when her birthday is, beyond being able to say "It's a long time to my birthday"
c ) can't identify the months of the year, and doesn't know it is February now.

Also can't understand why I corrected the phrase " I don't want no chips", altho' I recognise this may be acceptable language at her house.

My son has fastened his own seatbelt since just after his 5th birthday, has a complete grasp of the calendar, and has been able to tell people his birthday date since 3 y.o.

He can now tell the time (altho' won't admit it, he's too sly).

Are my expectations too high and the girlfriend is average for 6, or is his friend "a bit behind"

I'm genuinely curious about this one

Elibean - now is that Scones (to rhyme with cones) or Scones (as in cons)

When my children were six they would have been able to do the stuff Easy mentions and would probably have used the double negative.

I was born in Newcastle-under-Lyme too.

Birth certificate says place of birth is

Stoke-upon-Trent
Stoke-on-Trent

which I think is fab

I agree with bundle- it's hardly a major milestone, is it?

Were you born at the North Staffs Clayhead? If so it's within the Stoke border so you can call yourself a proper Potter (if you want to lol )

Why do you think I'm Clayhead

Might change my name to Saggarmakersbottomknocker, Clayhead. What do you think?

ds1 can do belt, ds2 can't. 5 and 6 years old. We raised calendar / birthday issues with yr1 teacher and were told that it's rare for 6 year olds to have the concept months in place.

I don't think she's behind. Ds (5) can't do his seatbelt because I never let him. I would rather he didn't know how to unbuckle it mid drive. He has friends who unbuckle themselves as soon as we get close to their house and (as the driver) it really unnerves me.
He also doesn't know what month it is and is just getting the idea of when his birthday is.
I do not regard him as behind. Because I know he isn't.
I do not consider those things to be significant milestones.

My mum was born in Newcastle-under-Lyme, Clayhead

(Have a feeling I may have mentioned that before in which case apologies!)

Excellent idea duck

The new me

Wow, I haven't heard that for a few years!!!!

My 6 yr old can do seatbelts in peoples car even though wwe don't have a car and knows his birthday is the end of march, he is not too hot on the time though but knows it is february. do you teach your child at home aswell?

If anything, I wouldn't want to rush their doing their own seatbelt. Means they can get out at will. Not an idea I like to entertain. Maybe at home they use one of those gizmos that keeps kids from undoing their own belts and that's why he can't do it up.

I can't remember when I was able to tell time.

Shall we form a club?

My boys don't open the car door and get out themselves and they're 6 and 8

It's not that they're not capable of doing so, it's just that we prefer them not to as a routine, as they're not always aware which side is against the pavement, and how close cars are parked.

pmsl at the twists and turns this thread has taken

GS, you sound like my mum (former English teacher) who was forever campaining to get her pupils to speak "properly", both in accent and in usage. A bit difficult when the kids in question are Geordies .

Our local dialect puts "at" at the end of any question beginning "where". Eg:
Where's your mother at?
Where's the Shakespeare book at?

It really irritates me.

Message withdrawn

Potty/Saggar...um...bottom (sorry, have NO memory these days ) re scones: well, I were brung up saying scones to rhyme with stones. I was born in Newcastle u. Lyme, then moved to Oxford at 18 months: not sure which it comes from?!?
Never come across anyone else who says it that way, so maybe I'm just wrong....

Cor this thread went off well didn't it??

Loved all the discussion about english grammer, which is a 'bee in my bonnet' at the best of times.

BTW this little girl is perfectly able to UNDO her seatbelt, just makes no effort to fasten it up, saying she can't do it (and as I said, her mum strapped her in when we set off). I suppose part of this is that as I am short, and have mobility probs, I always found it difficult to lean across and fasten it, so encouraged ds to do it himself. I suspect he is more self reliant than other 6 y.o.s because of this. He has even started wheeling the bin out for me on dustbin day in the last 2 weeks.

JennyLee, interested by your question. ds isn't home educated in the formal sense of the phrase, but I think dh and I instinctively teach him. He could read and count to 100 before he started school, just because we took opportunities to let him learn.
Oh and I have just realised, he has had a clock in his bedroom since he was 3, and has a calendar in there too (he commandeered the one given to us by the chinese take-away in January).

Elibean - I say scones (stones) The other scones is posh lol!

Clayhead - don't know about a club but we could be a pair of Knockers! We need to find a Baller, a Blunger and a Jigger we could have a party.