Telling the Time (for fun and profit)

[Deranged Nasat]

I hope this doesn't seem too spammy, but a topic came up in conversation with my family today and I wanted a bit of perspective. It was the issue of when children achieve various milestones like telling the time or learning to count. So I wondered, when did you first learn to tell the time? According to those who know me, I started just after my second birthday; my mother bought me a watch as my present and within a week or three I could read clocks and tell people the time if asked. I think that's rather early but, knowing little about child development, I couldn't say for sure, so I thought I'd take the highly scientific approach of asking some people on the internet and comparing the answers.

I was also wondering about people's early experiences with mathematics, games involving counting or basic sums, etc. When I was three, I used to enjoy watching snooker, because I would calculate the amount of points based on ball colour. Apparently it fascinated me. Does anyone else have insight into their first flirtations with maths? Was I unusually early or is that relatively "normal" (or, at least, not abnormal for the population of this board)?

 

[Mary Ann]

Two is indeed an early age at which to be able to tell time. I was probably about 4 when I was confident with telling the time. Several of the clocks in our house had Roman numerals, so I could read the numbers I to XII at the same age.

My relatives are big canasta players, and I learned to play when I was 5. As a result I could add in 5s and 10s at that age. I've never been much good at canasta, though. My husband also grew up watching snooker, and also remembers learning to add by keeping score. What made it more interesting is that he was 16 by the time his family had a colour television, so he was watching snooker in black and white.

 

[Spot's Meow]

I honestly don't remember, and I doubt my parents would either (they don't have a great memory for those sort of milestone type things). I do know that I've always avoided clocks with Roman numerals, because I never learned them. In first grade we were told we were going to learn about Roman numerals in second grade, but then I changed schools and at my new school they'd all learned it in first grade!

And as silly as this sounds, I've always "understood" time better on a real clock rather than a digital one. I need to see the full circle and the placement of the hands to really get a sense of the concept of time and what the current time is in relation to the full day. Hard to explain, but there you go.

 

[trekkiedane]

I didn't want to learn to tell time! Figured I had no need for it (in that weirdly confident and obstructive way kids have) so it wasn't until the year I had to go to school my mum, on several consecutive days, sat down with me and literally forced me to learn

As it turns out I didn't need being able to tell time for the next six or seven years: Mum got me up in the morning, the school had bells, dad knew when to turn on the TV for Star Trek as he watched it himself and I had no influence on when I had to be in bed again anyway.

Not until I changed schools and had to figure out when to catch which buses to get there and back did I need to tell time and my watch (those were, btw, 100% mechanical back then).

I was never (till this day) one for the sort of games where you have to do math or counting or just sitting there and thinking about your next move; I have a more 'spatial & hands on' sort of intelligence; Meccano, Lego and designing and building paper-models are the things I remember having had most fun with as a kid

 

[Gul Re'jal]

Little DN was a baby genius

I have no idea when I learnt telling the time, but I teach young children and most of them can't tell the time until they're 4.5 or 5 years old. I had a few pupils who could do that at 4 and maybe one or two at the age of 3, but those were clever kids, who generally knew and could do a lot more than their peers.

 

[scotpens]

And as silly as this sounds, I've always "understood" time better on a real clock rather than a digital one. I need to see the full circle and the placement of the hands to really get a sense of the concept of time and what the current time is in relation to the full day. Hard to explain, but there you go.

Same here. I still think of each hour as a circle, and X number of minutes as a segment of a circle, like so many slices of pizza. I've heard that some children today actually don't know how to tell time by a traditional clock, because all they ever see are digital readouts!

One mathematical milestone I remember was when I was about four, before kindergarten. I was counting to myself -- "98, 99, 100 . . ." and when I got to 109, I asked my mother, "What comes after 109?" She replied, "110, of course." At that moment, the whole concept of place-value arithmetic became clear to me. Damn, I was proud of myself.

 

[Kirkman1987]

I remember filling out some of those clock hand worksheets in school, but I knew before then. I really don't remember.

I do remember my mother teaching me how to count up to 20 in the garage, and making mistakes or forgetting the next number.

 

[Kestra]

I was horrible at telling time. I also flunked tying my shoelaces in KG. My parents had to buy me this special crayons clock at home so I could learn how to tell time. Thank god for cell phones!

 

[Trekker4747]

I can "tell time" and I even taught my niece to tell time when she was younger and learning such things. I taught her by only using the hour hand on an old clock and when she had that concept down I introduced the minute hand.

But I honestly can't tell you the last time I had to tell time using a standard face clock as most of the clocks I see anymore are digital and being a rather precise sort I prefer that because without really looking at it or examining it it's fairly hard to tell the "exact time" with a face clock, usually you're either going to round it to whatever 5-minute interval the minute hand is closest too since you're likely not going to tell the difference between "5:16" and "5:18" at a glance.

 

[MacLeod]

Well digital clocks make it a lot easy to tell the time, I suppose though one aspect of that is having to learn the 24hr clock, which is in widespread use for timetables etc.., or when you need to write a specific time.

(Though certain countries have yet to adopt more widespread use of the 24hr clock)

 

[RoJoHen]

I got judged the other day because I still wear a watch. "Don't you have a cellphone?" is the question I kept being asked. Yes, I have a cellphone, but I like wearing a watch. I have worn a watch every day since I was 14; I feel naked without it.

 

[MacLeod]

But to check the time on a mobile phone, I'd first have to dig out of which ever pocket I've put it in. Might have to open the case it's in. some models you might have to unlock to get the time.

I watch is far quicker than all that hassle. Though must get my battery replaced in mine.

 

[RoJoHen]

My watch battery died a few weeks ago, and I still put it on. It was annoying because I kept checking my wrist for the time, and it was ALWAYS the same.

 

[Mary Ann]

I got judged the other day because I still wear a watch. "Don't you have a cellphone?" is the question I kept being asked. Yes, I have a cellphone, but I like wearing a watch. I have worn a watch every day since I was 14; I feel naked without it.

Same here, though I think I was 10 or 11 when I began to wear a watch all the time. I go nuts without my watch, even if I'm in a room with a clock. If I'm out of bed, I must wear a watch.

 

[trekkiedane]

Before the age of cell-phones (well, that is to say; only execs and douches had them) I knew the placement and accuracy of all clocks in down-town Odense* -and as I grew old enough to sometimes actually want to know the time I bought myself a pocket watch... that way I didn't feel strapped to time (my foremost aversion against wrist watches). Plus at those times when I really really didn't need to know the time I would probably be out of my pants anyway.



___________
*) And a lot more phone-numbers than today.

 

[MacLeod]

My watch battery died a few weeks ago, and I still put it on. It was annoying because I kept checking my wrist for the time, and it was ALWAYS the same.

Well at least it was showing the correct time, twice a day.

 

[Captain Shaw]

I got judged the other day because I still wear a watch. "Don't you have a cellphone?" is the question I kept being asked. Yes, I have a cellphone, but I like wearing a watch. I have worn a watch every day since I was 14; I feel naked without it.

I'm the same.
I can't wear my watch at work,and It drives me nuts if I'm working on a machine that is facing away from a clock.

 

[scotpens]

. . . (Though certain countries have yet to adopt more widespread use of the 24hr clock)

In the USA, the 24-hour clock is called "military time," because that's who uses it.

Before the age of cell-phones (well, that is to say; only execs and douches had them) I knew the placement and accuracy of all clocks in down-town Odense* -and as I grew old enough to sometimes actually want to know the time I bought myself a pocket watch...

Does anyone still manufacture pocket watches? I associate them with gentlemen in three-piece suits with handlebar mustaches.

 

[RoJoHen]

I was looking for a new watch a couple weeks ago and saw pocket watches at both Kohls and Target.

 

[trekkiedane]

Does anyone still manufacture pocket watches? I associate them with gentlemen in three-piece suits with handlebar mustaches.

I actually bought one at WallMart a couple of years ago; analogue, digital, timer (stopwatch) and alarm plus a chain -cheapo thing (duh! from that place) but even after most of the buttons fell off it still works (works = shows time).