Keeping Time

Avey gets so distracted by her imagination sometimes that she forgets what she should be doing. For a long time her eating has been affected by this little quirk. She will sit at the table, with food in front of her (even food that she likes), and she will let the time roll by as she plays a game with her brother, or imagines up scenarios, and so on.

As preschool was approaching, we knew that we would have to encourage her to eat more quickly: They would never tolerate taking a full hour to nibble away at a quarter of a sandwich! We devised a plan where Avey gets 30 minutes to eat all of her food, and if she beats the time she gets a treat. We bought a digital clock to keep at her spot, and began to write down her time to beat at every meal so she could keep track. We thought it would also provide good opportunity to teach Avey how to tell time.

Earlier this week, Avey sat down to her meal and asked Kira what the clock should say when her time is up. Kira wrote down her time, 5:51. Avey looked at the paper, then at the clock, and said “My time is five fifteen.” Kira noticed that Avey had confused the order of the digits and said, “No, switch it.” Avey, now very lost, asked cautiously, “five teen fif?”

#LittleGems