Children’s first and continuing educators
Take an inquisitive three year old who needs to help you with everything you do. He
enjoys emptying your cupboards and likes to stack pots and pans. He lines up the
cutlery as you lay the table and when out shopping he likes to put items in the trolley
and then takes them out again. When hanging out washing he insists that he is in
charge of the pegs and only gives them to you one at a time.
At four years he is in charge of the balance scales when you are trying to weigh
out ingredients to bake a cake. He has to dial the numbers for all your phone calls
and takes full responsibility for sharing out the sweets. And he counts everything
from the cars in the street to the peas on his plate.
These everyday experiences are the foundation stones of children’s early numeracy
and as parents we are our children’s first and continuing educators. (Mills, 2002, p. 1)Introduction
During our long careers as teachers we have worked alongside parents as much as the
constraints of external factors beyond our control would permit. As teachers we
value true collaboration with parents. Throughout this book we refer to parents,
carers and families: the relevance of the home and the family is richly and finely
woven throughout. As Mills reminds us, no one knows the child like his or her
family (Mills, 2002). We, therefore, do not see this chapter as a discrete section but
as building on what we have already written.
In this chapter we draw on four studies we have made:1 ‘The Sovay study’: a case study of a child’s number development from 22 to 42
months. (Carruthers, 1996)
2 A study of ‘mathematics at home’ based on questionnaires and diaries over seven
days, completed by 31 mothers and fathers of children aged 4–6 years in one class.216Involving Parents
and
(^11) Families
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