Fractions!

Have you ever tried to think like a child?!  Or, have you ever tried to think what a child would do in a specific situation?  Good luck!  Their little minds are working overtime to come up with a “good idea”, but they have a long way to go to think like an adult!  Their “good ideas” make us adults shake our heads and wonder, “What made them think that was a good idea?!” 

I have several examples of this.  

One child:

Our first year living in Montana came with several strange challenges. My 2 oldest were in elementary school, 2nd and 3rd graders, but because of the system to place children in their local school, my kids were NOT attending the same elementary school!  What a headache, not to mention a logistical nightmare!

We had a routine about where to meet me after school so that I could get between the 2 schools in the least time possible to get the sibling… this worked 90% of the time.  There were those unique situations; Good Lookin’ had a change in his flight schedule and I would have to switch the order that I picked them up.  Of course, this never happened before school so that I could talk through it with my children, it would happen during school, so that I would pray that they remembered our contingency plan and would wait for me to arrive.  Nope.  This is how it would play out, I would stop to get the first child, (who was usually picked up second) and they would not be there.  Trying to hurry things up, I would run to their classroom, hoping to quickly find them… to no avail.  Eventually, that child would meander on out and find the car and we would be on our way to pick up the sibling who was used to being picked up first and now had waited for what seemed like an eternity, so they had moved on.  I would go to the office and hope that they would be sitting there waiting for me… because that makes sense.  But, no.  I would check with their teacher, not there.  So, now I would be feeling a bit crazy and really scared, because, I had checked all the logical places.  This is also when I would call my husband in a complete panic (since, there is so much he can do while waiting for his flight to board.)  I would rant about going straight to the district office and demanding that they find my lost child because this is because of their jacked up system that does not even allow for siblings to attend the same school!  Ugh!  (Usually, Good Lookin’ would make the call for me, and kindly tell them how difficult this is and that we would like to get our children in the same school as soon as possible.  And, the district office never met the CRAZY me, thankfully!)

So, back to the desperate search for my lost child, whom I can’t possibly think like they do… all while dragging 3 other tiny children along with me.  I wanted to be sprinting, but was not even walking at a quick pace due to the wonderful distractions that my other kids kept focusing on!  Eventually, I would find this lost one and hug and kiss them like it had been years since I saw them last and they were having a great time on the swings, waiting for me!?!?  Or whatever other creative place made sense to them, because the next time, they had learned that the swings was not a good place if mom was late, so maybe, they should just walk all the way home.  Sigh.  

Let me share another example.

2 children: 

Abercrombie has a friend and they do everything together (they have been best friends for the past 8 years!).  They are inseparable, but also, rather well behaved as a pair.  However, one day, the parents were looking for these two and went to find them in the friend’s bedroom, not there.  But the window was slightly open… so we took a peek outside.  Not there.  Much looking followed, and when we finally discovered these quiet little mice, they were outside, not just on the roof outside the window, but had climbed to the apex of the roof, because it had a better view!?  Roofs in Montana are steep, in order for snow to fall off of it… or small children!  Seriously, what were you two thinking?

7 children: 

The next example began when we had 7 children at our house so that we and another couple could go out for dinner.  The oldest child was 12, the youngest was less than a year old.  Near the end of dinner the couple we were with received a call from their youngest, he was scared and wanted them to come back.  They talked to him and assured him that there was nothing to be scared about.  We all headed home shortly after this.  When we got home, there was a distinct burnt smell.  What happened we asked?  We burned popcorn.  Oh, ok.  We said our goodbyes and our friends headed for their home with their children… now, we walk all the way into our kitchen.  There is a charred pot in the sink.  “You didn’t burn microwave popcorn, did you?” I ask.  Nope.  “We made it on the stove top like you do, Dad.”

For the first time ever?!  Our oldest was responsible for this and she was only 9!  

Apparently, the pan caught fire!  Smoke was billowing out of the house, so the neighbors checked in and were told that everything was fine.  (No wonder the kid called because he was scared!)

The next morning, I was still shaking my head about this.  “Truly, what were you thinking?” And the answer I got, I was not prepared to hear… “Well, the first batch turned out great!”

We have so many of these stories!  And the best way to explain this phenomenon is that each child has ½ the brain function of an adult.  So, when you have several children together their brain power multiplies together.  But, when we multiply fractions… the total gets smaller!!

So, in our home, without adding any other children, we have ½ x ½ x ½  x ½ = 1/16   Yikes!  

No wonder, we can’t think like they do!  

Kids get together and it is simply multiplying fractions!

Good Lookin’ and I are so happy to be on the other end of this stage as we have 2 adults now… but we do enjoy watching children to see what they will come up with!  We laugh and just say… “Fractions!”