A few nights ago, I was seriously trying to get the kids to settle down for bed. You see, they tend to have different preferences for bedtime reading and after reading both kids choices, Kehz was adamant on re-reading his selection. I calmly stated that it is well past their bedtime as it was 9:15 PM. As usual, he tried his luck a few more times and then randomly asked “why do you say it’s 9:15 PM mummy?”.

In my flustered confusion am like “huh?” Because I know Kehz is aware of telling time… Just the other day I told them they had 10 mins more to play but tried to pull a fast one 4 minutes into the allotted 10 minutes. Could Kehz be consulting the digital oven clock and countering me with no, “you didn’t say 5 minutes, you said 10 minutes…”. Still haven’t recovered from that one. And, yes. He runs to the kitchen to note the time, from oven, most times we give them a certain number of minutes ‘more’ to finish an activity 😊

So, to his question, I told him that it’s because 9:15 PM is the actual time now which is late for them to be awake. Being the patient inquirer that he is, he explained further:

Kehz: “But why do you say 3 PM, 9 AM…” (he listed a few other numbers)

Me: “Because I am telling you what time it is”

Kehz: “I know you are telling me the time but why always add AM, PM”

Me: “Oh…”

His clarification was spot-on and led to an explanation that the AM/PM differentiates ‘morning time’ from ‘afternoon/evening time’. He seemed to immediately understand my high-level summary especially since he sometimes asks, “Mummy is it morning time?” when he wakes up from his mid-day nap. As a bona-fide engineer, I was of course tempted to further explain how 1:00 O’clock to 12:00 O’clock occurs twice a day but decided he may just forget what he just learned if the lesson is prolonged. Plus, I needed them to be sleeping like 20 minutes ago. Haha!

This encounter as well as quite a few similar ones grounds me a lot… there really is a lot for children to learn in this life and we, parents/guardians, are their 24/7 non-stop school. They do listen to us, watch us, and emulate us! They are also curious about everything and ask without hesitation!

I seriously didn’t realize that I use AM/PM to further describe time. Would have totally lost a bet if money was riding on this knowledge! Kehz and Azah are definitely schooling me on my habits and making me reflect on some things I do/say! Leading by example adiro ufele o!!!

What questions have you answered lately people? 🙂