Gianna asked me what time it was yesterday after watching Evie for me. I think she was exhausted and wanted to know how much of her life she just spent entertaining her crazy 2.5-year-old sister. This age gap thing really is great birth control for teenagers.
I checked my watch and told her it was “quarter to 5”.
She groaned and said….”why do you and Dad do that?! Can’t you just say the time without making me do math?!”
I go on to explain to her how easy it is to know what quarter to and quarter after really means. I grabbed Evie’s wooden play clock that was conveniently nearby and showed her.
“See!? You simply divide the clock in fourths. Quarters! So, quarter to is 45 minutes and quarter after is 15! It’s easy.”
She rolled her eyes and said it’s easier to just say the time and not bring in math. I tried to tell her that she needs to know what quarter to and after means but she stopped me.
“You know, you and Dad are the only adults that say that. Literally no one else does. It’s going to die with your generation because no one says it anymore.”
After she dropped those words of wisdom on me, I paused. Is she right? Is quarter to/after dying? Are we the only odd bods that say this anymore?? I mean, it is easier to just say the damn time. She’s right. But I don’t want her to look like a deer in headlights if this is a life skill she should actually know.
Why the hell did we bring more math into telling time? We already have to do quick multiplication when looking at the hour ticks to calculate minutes. Isn’t that enough? Why bring in phrases like quarter to, half past, and what not??
For us old folks, I do think it’s easier for us to use these phrases. We’ve grown up with them. Checking the time and seeing that it’s resting on the 45, 15, or super close by makes my brain immediately connect to those quarter phrases and gleefully announce the time. Brains love making connections like that. Once you know them, it’s a small joy to recognize 2:15 is really quarter after 2.
But if you don’t have those connections, your brain just jumbles and frustratingly cries for simplicity. Teenage brains don’t have those associations. I guess they haven’t been asked to in school anymore. So, forcing the old way of quarter to and past is wasteful energy.
Just call it what it is, I guess. Stop making it more complicated.
Life lessons from my almost 16-year-old.