teaching your children to count and think?

 Counting  is not a numbers game...in seeking peace and joy

For a couple of days now I have been logging  into my bank’s app to check to see if/when my insurance payment gets deducted—it changed a couple months ago and just like Elon, and Bill  I’m usually not aware of  nor do I worry about. A few dollars  here and ther.  Oh there’s  one difference they’re rich and  will always be and I’m not and will never be—except if you count friendship, a sense of spiritual worth, and the will to grow...and then I’m rich and don’t really care about them all that much they can hire someone to care about them if they need to.  so..yep I have have been thinking about  “counting” as in what counts, what we count, and how we “teach people—especially  kids— to count and I thought I’d add up some notions and drop them into this little sheet that spreads the word..even though that doesn’t mean this is a spreadsheet and you won’t be looking for a small shelf in the rock to jump oss when this is done so we can’t say this entry will be a ledger either?  

So..here goes 5,  4,3,2, 1....

Let’s try an experiment... how many shoes do you own?  Time limit two minutes... Okay times up ...if you have more shoes than two minutes  worth you’ve over estimated how many feet you will ever own.  

Okay now How many containers  that hold liquid do you have in your fridge right now.   

Question..do you have dehydrated  stuff in your fridge?Because if you don’t then unless yo have empty food containers in your  ice box then every item in your fridge probably  contains liquid in the form of water,juice,oil, etc...etc..etc...

Oh you say..you didn’t include  this things...??? Well why not?  You haven’t been taught to think of these things  as “liquid containers?”  

So when we teach our kids how to count it seems we are saying things like count the number of squares  on this page or blue things and thus telling them what a square is and how it is not a triangle and how it is blue and not red.  But squareness and blueness are not numbers nor can they be “counted without an agreement  about what they are or what those words mean.  So even the best “counters” in the world have to engage in the task of finding meaning and agreeing with someone else about this meaning?  Now how much fruit. Do you have?  Did you automatically start by thinking “I’ve got two bananas—one orange and what’s an avocado..and did you remember that tomatoes count because they are technically a fruit?  Hmmm?  

So...what’s the peace and joy angle....?  I’m thinking that in this period of home schooling  when we are figuring out how to teach each other things... it might be. Fun to admit we make decisions about what counts as what and that together  we can discuss this.  We  can teach our kids that numbers  aren’t important...it’s what  gets included  in or pushed out of the group that “counts before you get out your abacus  or scanner.  also  you can maybe find the blessings in getting to define the way  you spend time at home. In new ways and maybe  we can think about how we conceptualize  our home spaces, our social media, and our relationships  with classmates. And co-workers.  Maybe we can teach our children that choices  are made when people count things and that they have choices too.  Maybe we can consider  how putting labels on things just to count them  may not be the best way to value things...because that gold star on the fridge. Isn’t  quiet the same as the stars  over your head in the sky and yet if you were asked to count how many stars  you can find at your house or apartment wouldn’t you count both?....

Maybe you have as blessing as there are stars in the heavens if we choose to count the ability. To read, talk, taste, feel, and the list goes on....

anyway here’s some counting  Google and others. And I have done for fun and I want to count my blessings that you folks have  given me the gift of being aboe to share.  The following are “estimates based upon how the world counts data in the media age.  

in the. Past  25 months and one week this blog  and it’s companion podcast have been listened to and viewed by an estimated audience or views of 23,500 to 28,000 engagements (reads or downloads.  By the “attention numbers” on the podcast and the average reading speed of  adults the “audience has spend a combined  total. Of 4.6 to  nearly 7.7 years of your collective time—this is the conservative  range and This stuff is viewed by people in an average of 16 countries  a quarter.  These numbers don’t include how often you may share your disgust with my offerings with your friends, family, or enemies but what I want to say is thanks ...I can’t put a number on how grateful I am to each of you for sharing  my inner thoughts for  a few moments either once or often.   Each of your souls or spirits counts in my book.  

I’ve got a little mini-series coming next week.. and it’s a little “heavy so I’ll have to include  a little non-sense  post or two in the four or five entries... 

Anyway...You are not a number unless you choose and if you do chose...well you are number one!  By the way this post  contains  just shy of 1000 words but who is counting?