Friday, November 24, 2006

the fiveness of five



We were watching my daughter play with some buttons yesterday. She sat there, happily counting.
1
2
3
4
5
As she got to 3, things started to sound a bit fuzzy, she could rationalise the word 3 with a number of buttons, 4 was a bit complicated, the word and the buttons were right, but it seemed less certain. 5 was still happening, but all certainty was gone.

"Ah" said my Dad, the former teacher "she can't get the fiveness of five".

When you're a kid, everythings fascinating, and you're piecing together a picture of the world. The big things come in small numbers - 1 me, 2 parents, 3 satsumas - all very important. After that there's just "loads". 5 is loads, and therefore whilst it exists, its not part of your world view.

You could carry on this post in a number of different directions, but I like the idea that kids are happy with simplicity.


Probably true for adults as well.

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