Skip to main content

Cookies

Picture taken by TwinBug Photography
twinbugphotography@yahoo.com
The other night I made cookies with the boys. While the toddlers sat in their high chairs yelling, "Mooow! Moooow!" (their attempt at "more," their universal word for want/please/give me) and pointing at the oven as the cookies baked, our preschooler worked on some math. I drew 5 circles on a piece of paper, representing each family member. (He quickly drew chocolate chips, so instead of circles, there were 5 cookies.) We then counted out how many cookie dough balls we had and represented each cookie with a counting bear. His goal was to as evenly as possible spread out the counting bears over each circle to see how many cookies each family member would get. We were working on his math and trying to teach fairness. We had 11 bears and 5 circles.

1st Attempt
I explained to our four-year old that each bear was a cookie. However many bears were on your circle were how many cookies you would get once they baked. Probably not the best way to explain this to a four-year old, in hindsight. He quickly plunked 1 bear on Momma, 1 bear on Dadda, and 1 bear each on his brothers, then piled the rest of the bears on his circle. "Momma! You all get one and I get 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7! Woo hoo!"

2nd Attempt
Realizing my error, I attempted to explain fairness. "D, we want everyone to have an even amount of cookies. How would you feel if C got 7 cookies and you only 1?" I pointed to his circle as I said this. He nodded indulgently, "Well, that is not C's circle. That is my circle. So I have 7 cookies and C only has 1. See?" I pushed 6 bears over to C's circle, leaving 1 bear on his, and asked the question again. He contemplates this for a second and replies, "Well, now that's my circle [pointing at C's circle with 7 bears] and that is C's circle [pointing at his]."

3rd Attempt
At this point, the toddlers are tired of yelling "more" at the oven and have started to impatiently wonder where the cookies are. I tried to distract them with crayons and paper. O thought this was a fun new game; C would not be distracted. He wanted cookies and he wanted them now. He picked up his little cup of crayons and threw them on the floor. His piece of paper quickly followed. I shook my head and said, "No, sir, we do not behave that way!" I struggled with him for a minute, trying to teach him the appropriate behavior. He refused to listen and D interjected, "Don't worry, Momma. I took away his bear. And put it on mine."

4th Attempt
This is when I wondered if I was teaching anything at all to anyone. I sat back down with D and gave a brief lesson on fairness and kindness. His eyes glazed over and I stood up to check on the cookies. When I turned around, there were 2 bears on each of the 5 circles. D proudly announced, "Well, looks like there is 1 leftover for me! You guys get 2 and I get 3!" D, D, D... So close. I congratulated him on his math, spreading out the bears fairly, then pushed the leftover bear to Daddy's circle. "We always give Daddy the extra cookie, bud." D furrowed his brow, "One day I will be the daddy and get the extra cookie."

Thankfully the timer went off right then-- saved by the bell.

Obviously we have a few things to work on.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

I love my stroller

Napping while we are out. North Carolina September 2011 I get stopped all the time when I go out. I don't mind that people want to wave at my babies or ask D if he is a "big help" or throw their hands up in mock distress and say, "I don't know how you do it." Sometimes, yes, I would rather run in and out of a store, but, honestly, even if people weren't stopping me, would that really happen heading out with three kids? I've gotten used to the "you have your hands full" conversations, but one thing I never tire of talking about is my stroller. People stop me all the time to comment on my stroller, either to tell me that they wish they had that stroller back when their kids were young or to find out what it is and where to get it. Let me start at the beginning. When D was an infant we had two different Chicco strollers, the travel system and the Chicco $40 umbrella stroller. Neither was that exceptional, but they both served their p
73 comments
Read more

Prototype in South Carolina

I'm starting this blog post off with a disclaimer: this was my experience as a Navy spouse as my husband went through prototype, another school in the nuclear Navy officer pipeline-- not his point of view, but mine. These are my thoughts and words, not his. My husband is prior enlisted. When he went through prototype this time around, he had already gone through prototype before {as enlisted}; he had already been on a submarine; he had been in the Navy for 10 years. He went through the STA-21 program {more blog posts on that under " Military Resources "} and is going back through the pipeline as an officer. I felt his prior experience would work to his advantage in prototype and at least give him more time with our family than he had while in power school {read the " Power school " blog post}. Students in prototype are on rotating shift work. The shifts are roughly these times, depending on which boat you get on and various other factors: Days {day shift
1 comment
Read more

Submarine Officer's Basic Course (SOBC)

My husband was picked up STA-21 . I've written several blog posts about our STA-21 journey  and going through the officer pipeline: power school and prototype in South Carolina . It is surreal to me to be writing this post about the last piece of his STA-21 journey, going to SOBC in Connecticut. It doesn't seem that long ago that we received the news that he was picked up STA-21. It was such a whirlwind leaving Hawaii to move to North Carolina for him to get his degree in mechanical engineering; all too soon he graduated college and we were off to South Carolina going through the officer pipeline.It is crazy to me that in a few short weeks we will be back to the fleet. When we left the fleet for the STA-21 program, I felt we had all the time in the world. I tried to remind myself along the way that the time would slip away from us, but it is one thing to know it and another to live it. But I digress. Right now my hubby is at SOBC (Submarine Officer's Basic Course).
2 comments
Read more