Eleven

Age 6 | Grade 1

Pierce reminded me of something that happened in when he was younger.

“There was a parent [helper] that made me feel so bad in Grade 1.

We were working in small groups and doing math.

She asked me what one plus one was and I answered, ‘11!’

She gave me a funny look.

She said, ‘No Pierce, that’s wrong’.

I explained to her that when you put 1 plus another 1 together, it makes 11.

1+1 =11

She said, ‘No it doesn’t. 1+1 equals 2’, [and that was the end of it].

I was so embarrassed - she made me feel really bad about math. I still feel that way to this day”

As his mom, I would do anything to rewind things and take that day back for my son. He was only 6.

I wished the other parent would have scratched a little deeper, taken a single moment to look at things a little differently, try to think outside the box, and meet my son at the level where he was. Pierce wasn’t wrong, his answer just wasn’t the expected answer.

That one moment, although innocuous to that parent, had real, lasting consequences for my son and his confidence with mathematics. As adults we really need to tread lightly with these young minds, have more patience, and greater curiosity for their ideas and why they say the things the say.

Image Credit: Eugenia Remark