Fortune Teller
A few weeks ago, my 7 year old daughter E and 5 year old son C went to get a gift for Mommy. We went into a store and picked up a bracelet. The salesperson was really nice and she decided to give E and C some treats, which I couldn’t say no to if I wanted calm kids.
One of the treats was a fortune cookie. I never have to tell either of them, especially C, to eat quickly if it’s a treat. C gobbled it up and there was the standard piece of paper in them. When the salesperson came back, E and C were in the middle of asking me what the papers said. The salesperson asked whether they could read and C said he knew.
The salesperson asked C to read the fortune on the piece of paper he had. I glanced down and thought the kid had no chance. There were some big words on that fortune. That did not deter C though. He tried and sounded out every single word. May pro-s-per-ity flow ab-un-dan-t-ly. Those sounds came out of C’s mouth and I was shocked.
He just sounded out the syllables slowly and confidently. Of course he didn’t know what it meant, but he read the fortune. He was a fortune teller and he fortune told-her (and us) what it said. The salesperson couldn’t believe it either and C had a huge smile on his face. He asked what it meant and I explained it. Then the salesperson asked if C knew math. He said he did and the quizzing started again.
She asked C some addition and subtraction problems, which he got. I knew he would know the answers to those. Then the salesperson asked C what 10 × 7 is. He thought about it for a bit and said 70! The salesperson was shocked and asked how he knew that. C said it was base 10 and that he learned it from me. That was a proud dad moment for me!
We ended up walking out of the store a bit after that with the bracelet we came for. I also got to take with me an unforgettable moment with C. I still can’t believe he read the fortune and got the multiplication question right. Now he needs to just keep applying himself because I got a glimpse of his ceiling and it’s my job as a parent to nudge him in the right direction.
