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Parenting

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Original poster

can your 7 year old tell the time

28 replies

ifeelsleepy · 22/08/2008 18:51

My ds is now 7 but cannot tell the time as yet.
I am now starting to feel quite bad about it as I realise its something I have not really treid that much to teach him but on the occasions that I have he seems to have trouble grasping it.
What has got me thinking about this is I had one of his mates the same age at our house and found that he could tell the time with ease and seemed to have a understanding of time.
Just wondering is this something that all 7 year olds should be able to do by now.
I feel quite bad about it at the moment so do realise I probably should be knuckling down with him and teaching him.

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chapstickchick · 22/08/2008 18:52

yes my ds3 who is 7 can i think once they can count in 5s its easy to grasp.

Original poster

ifeelsleepy · 22/08/2008 18:59

I am a little put out with his primary has I do know that a while ago a letter was sent out, but only to some parents that they had found that many children could not tell the time so they started concentrating on this, but it seems not all children including my ds were taught this.
Surely it is something they should have all been taught together.

OP posts:

chapstickchick · 22/08/2008 19:27

i dont know -tbh my ds3 is home schooled my other 2 ds were at school at that age but it was never taught to them there ,ive always done it at home.

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biglips · 22/08/2008 19:29

My SD started to tell the time when she turned 7.

littlemissworry · 22/08/2008 19:31

My ds1 is 7 and can tell bits of the time. I haven't taught him yet either as I keep forgetting .

chapstickchick · 22/08/2008 19:35

its a bit of a tradition with our family that the weekend they learn to tell the time daddy taes them out to choose a watch (not a particularly expensive one just a normal one)so its been a milestone they all wanted to reach.

LollipopViolet · 22/08/2008 20:12

chapstickchick, that's a lovely tradition. I think I could tell the time by age 7. My mum got me one of those watches where one half was blue and one was red, so I understood AM/PM. I'm not sure how I learnt tbh...it's just something I learnt and can't remember how.

maidamess · 22/08/2008 20:17

Sort of. The o'clocks and the half pasts.

constancereader · 22/08/2008 20:18

Ime as a primary teacher children learn to tell the time at very different ages - it just seems to click with individuals when they are ready.

Telling the time is very complicated, there are so many ways of looking at it. I wouldn't worry yet, but just make a game of finding the hour/half hour when it comes up naturally.

MammaK · 22/08/2008 20:32

Im a year 1 primary teacher, and by 7 children should have been taught to recognise o'clocks, half past, quarter past & possibly quarter to. Also turns in clockwise and anti-clockwise directions. It can be difficult to grasp depending on ability but your ds's teacher should have picked up on it either way so you are right to feel a little annoyed by the school.

Can give some good tips if you want them

bloss · 22/08/2008 20:36

Message withdrawn

Piffle · 22/08/2008 20:43

can he read ok?
I taught 4 yr old dd this way
She got the o clock and half past ok

I wrote like this on a sheet of paper
1=5 past
2=10 past etc etc
And asked her the time a lot!
So she checked the clock for the hour and went to the sheet and got the number then told the time
So by memory if you will

Now she is 5 and understands numbers properly
She is a fluent time teller!
Now ds1 incredibly G and T at that age and beyond but time telling was beyond him til age 7

So rather than expecting them to understand just do the memory and the rest follows on!

Piffle · 22/08/2008 20:44

and using analogue!
Detest digitals lol

popsycal · 22/08/2008 20:46

ds1 is 6 and can do o cllock, half past, quarter to, quarter past and all of the 'past' times....

He wanted to learn over the summer so that is our 'challenge'!
next week is 'to' the hour.

As a teacher, I see some bright 9-10 year olds who struggle to tell the time. Start with pizzas, cakes and do lots of halving and quartering. Then play games which involve counting in 5s.

popsycal · 22/08/2008 20:47

oh yes - avoid digital clocks

mumeeee · 23/08/2008 17:10

Some 7 year olds can and some can't. Don't use digetal clocks to teach him.

RustyBear · 23/08/2008 18:19

DS's year 1 teacher once told me that children either seem to get it by about 5, or not till they are 7-8 & it has nothing to do with their intelligence otherwise & my two seem were like this - DS could tell the time at 4, DD not till about 8 (though she's now 18 & she still doesn't seem too sure about the early morning hours, judging by the time she gets up... )

The government's targets for Year 2 in Maths include "Tell the time to the half and quarter hour."
For Y4: "Tell the time to the nearest minute and use a simple timetable."

dilemma456 · 23/08/2008 18:49

Message withdrawn

MrsDisapproving · 23/08/2008 18:53

at government targets!

ds is 9 and has told me that he starts school at 2pm recently...

and also says that the time is 2 past 12 (ten past 12). have been trying to teach him the time since he was 6. digital - forget it!

Clary · 23/08/2008 19:17

Telling the time is a thing that's often learned in yr 2.

I recall a yr 2 teacher telling me that some of her class (towards the end of the year) still hadn't got it.

DD is 7 and can do it but only for the last 6mo or so reliably.

She has got a great watch which shows 5/10/15 as well as 1/2/3 and then 5/10/15 etc is in the same colour as the big hand, 1/2/3 etc in same colour as little hand which has really helped.

laweaselmys · 23/08/2008 19:56

Nope, because I don't have a 7 year old. Just wanted to say I am RUBBISH at telling the time, I can do it but it takes me a little while. I also struggle with left and right... it's not that I don't know which is which, but that I still need to use little rhymes and tricks to know which is which rather than just 'knowing' automatically. My mother nearly went loopy as she couldn't understand why I couldn't do it. I still have no idea what the problem is! It hasn't stopped me going to university and getting a degree though so as long as he does get the hang of it eventually, don't stress out too much if it takes him a little while to learn!

Clary · 23/08/2008 20:53

I have to just post that my brother, who was a quiet child (ahem), is purported to have told the time at age 3 .

I am 3 yrs older than him and when he could, I still couldn't, IYSWIM (ie when I was 6).

However having had three 3yos I am now a bit about this legendary achievement of his.

oi · 23/08/2008 20:56

my 8 yr can't but my 6 yr old can with a fair degree of accuracy. The 6yr old is way more interested in maths though which I think helps!

QuintessentialShadows · 23/08/2008 21:05

My 6 year old can. He carries his own watch and uses it to keep track of time, like, "oh, it is 5 to 3, mum will be here to pick me up in a minute" - Teacher told me, was well impressed.

suedonim · 23/08/2008 22:30

RustyBear, that's interesting, as my dc could all tell the time before they started school, yet some of their friends still had almost no clue at 7/8yo.

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