Mum, how long did it take you to get to 40 years old?

I wanted to answer wistfully with “in the blink of an eye” but knowing my son like I do he would then stop blinking just incase it made him turn 40 years old. My answer was simply “it has taken me 40 years to get to 40 years old.” But what does that actually mean….let me break it down for you……it could mean any of the below….

• 40 years
• 480 months
• 2087.14 weeks
• 14610 days
• 350, 640 hours
• 21,038,400 minutes
• 1,262,304,000 seconds

The thought process behind the question is the bit that got me. Time is a measure. Questions such as “How long does it take to get the shop? How long is it until dinnertime? How long before I have to go to bed?” are often asked, and an answer given is a time. So the logicalness (is that even a word…or is it logicality??) of his question is correct, yet he didn’t realize the answer was in his question. It took 40 years to get to 40. But unless you know how long any of those measures above are then how can you even understand how long that is. A conceptual understanding of the passage of time is vital to understand time. So in order to understand time you have to understand time!!!!!

Time seems to be a big issue for my son. If you read my first blog post you will see asking “what time is it” is my sons favourite question. He wants to understand time now, not fall into it gradually. Hell I’m not even sure I understand the concept of time, so how can I explain in an age appropriate way how we measure time and how long that feels. 

I started by breaking the day down into chunks based on the mealtime. 

• Between breakfast and dinner was morning. 
• Between dinner and tea was afternoon. 
• Between teatime and supper was evening. 
• After supper and breakfast was nighttime (and bedtime!!!).

This led to more questions “why is afternoon not called afterdinner”….and then it gets more complicated as dinnertime can also be called noon so afternoon is correct. And then you have those posh people who call dinner lunch so maybe it should be “afterlunch”. And then you wonder what you have actually started with this conversation!!

Months and years are an issue too. One day he asked me if June was before August? I of course said yes. He asked “why am I younger than my sister then?” June is his birthday month and August is his sister’s birthday month, although his sister is 8 years older. And his question makes sense…..June comes before August so he should be older. I guess he’s believing that time began when he was born. But when did time begin. What is the starting point of time or does it just go round and round in a big circle. Hang on isn’t that what Stephen Hawking wrote his book, A Brief History of Time, about?!?! Crikey, last week my son was channeling his inner Freddie Mercury, this week it’s Stephen Hawking…….what happened to a 5 year old channeling Peppa Pig or Mr Tumble?!?!

And if he asks me about being 40 again I best not tell him “Life Begins at 40”. That really will confuse him!!