Preschool mentioned concerns over ds1's shape confusion

[colditz]

apparently he gets muddled between square, cube, and 'cuboid'. He's 4.

I mentioned that I don't recall doing stuff like that until i was 7 or 8, and it doesn't seem to have harmed me in any way. Anyone elses four year old doing this at preschool- and does anyone know why?

I can hardly bring myself to reply. FGS!!! he's 4!!! What are they on about? Square, circle,triangle- that's Ok for a 4 year old. bloody 'ell, until my dd was at prmiary and I saw her maths, I'd forgotten what a cuboid was. Ignore 'em.

I'm not sure I ever knew what a cubiod is. I've certainly never needed to know.

eh? They are mad!

Most 4 year old chilren just learn basic shapes. Children don't start learn about cubes and cuboids untill they are at school.

FGS!

No, that is just sooooo not necessary and it's nothing to worry about - my ds certainly didn't do this at pre-school, nor has he in reception!

Someone at the pre-school is getting delusions of grandeur or something. I think they are being weird!

umm, whats the difference between a cube and a cuboid?

cube is made from a square, cuboid from a rectangle

What the fck* is a cuboid?

I have managed to get to the ripe old age of 42 without knowing that.

I'm starting to feel mighty angry at this obsession with education in the very young. I can't believe that any long-term good can come from it.

Why don't they call it a rectangleboid, then?

Jeez, no wonder your poor lad's confused, Colditz.

Well I managed to get all the way through school and a degree in maths without knowing what a cuboid was, so I doubt it matters much in pre-school.

I looked it up on Google and it's a 3-dimensional rectangle or box-shape. I'm not sure that I was ever taught a proper name for it.

possibly because not all sides have to be rectangles? DD3 is at a Montessori school and loves the Geometric Solids, so I know all about ellipsoids and ovoids and the like. Does seem a bit extreme for a pre-school though.