My mum was similar
I was gobsmacked when I got to school and there were kids who barely even knew the alphabet. What had their parents been doing for the last 5 years ffs?
(berk, Thu 14 Oct 2010, 12:04, 2 replies, latest was 15 years ago)

yeah this
if we went out anywhere my parents would make me add up the bill and little things like that.
( Kitty v1.0 desperately naive, Thu 14 Oct 2010, 12:06, Reply)

I couldn't believe it when the other kids
only knew the one version of "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" but none of the Mozart variations.
(LongJohnBaldry, Thu 14 Oct 2010, 12:08, Reply)

twinkle, twinkle, little bat
was Wolfgang's seminal piece, I felt.
( the mighty badger Aphrodite, on a bar stool, by your side, Thu 14 Oct 2010, 12:19, Reply)

"how I wonder where you're at"
Is ending a sentence with a preposition, though.
( The Light in Chains don't touch the Pope's boner, Thu 14 Oct 2010, 13:08, Reply)

my parents were teachers
so taught from day one. It does bemuse me when children go to school unable to read or know basic letters though. Five years worth and the parents haven't bothered even with regular storybooks/ tracing words etc
( Amberl was stripey and dominated Europe, Thu 14 Oct 2010, 12:08, Reply)

But everyone should do it regardless of whether they're teachers. There's no excuse.
My mum was married at 17 and had me at 18. She was a hairdresser.
It's not difficult to give a kid the basics. Just singing it at them usually does the trick.
( Roota zweeeeeoooooowm, Thu 14 Oct 2010, 12:16, Reply)

that's what I'm saying :)
all you have to do even is just read storybooks to them, and make sure they trace the words. Play the Alphabet song etc.
( Amberl was stripey and dominated Europe, Thu 14 Oct 2010, 12:24, Reply)

Sesame Street was good, except for the 'zee' thing...

( Roota zweeeeeoooooowm, Thu 14 Oct 2010, 12:29, Reply)

my mum wouldn't let me watch Sesame Street in case I picked up Americanisms
I like, totally, showed her.
( Kitty v1.0 desperately naive, Thu 14 Oct 2010, 12:33, Reply)

My friend keeps saying 'zee' when he's spelling
I've managed to convince absolutely everyone to say 'What?' every single time he says it now, he's starting to get quite frustrated.
( Agnostic Antichrist Baltimora, Thu 14 Oct 2010, 12:36, Reply)

The music was ace though
We've got an audio tape of me singing 'I'm Gonna be a Country Girl Again' in the style of Bufy Sainte Marie. Because of Sesame Street.
( Roota zweeeeeoooooowm, Thu 14 Oct 2010, 12:38, Reply)

and me
i was a swotty little toddler who kept asking my mother what words said, so she taught me to read (she was a primary school teacher anyway). still can't count though.
( rachelswipe with a fork, Thu 14 Oct 2010, 12:07, Reply)

I can't count either
But I remember when I was about 3/4 my mum had been teaching me about letters that go together to make other sounds (th, sh, ch etc) and there was a sign saying 'Beware of Vehicles'. I saw the c and the h and got mixed up, thinking it was a 'chuh' sound.
I spent ages being terrified of these mythical 'Vechiles' behind the post Office fence.
( Roota zweeeeeoooooowm, Thu 14 Oct 2010, 12:09, Reply)

awww
that's really sweet.

maths is for losers anyway.
( rachelswipe with a fork, Thu 14 Oct 2010, 12:25, Reply)

I liked it better when I got older
Like algebra and interesting things. But I CANNOT do arithmetic.
It frightens me when people ask me to tot things up.
( Roota zweeeeeoooooowm, Thu 14 Oct 2010, 12:32, Reply)

aww you'll make Chompy cry saying stuff like that

( Kitty v1.0 desperately naive, Thu 14 Oct 2010, 12:34, Reply)

nah
he doesn't rate my opinion highly enough for that!
( rachelswipe with a fork, Thu 14 Oct 2010, 12:39, Reply)