I had to run an errand after I picked up our four year old yesterday. For some reason, I thought out loud that maybe I would bring our iPad to help keep her entertained while I did some banking. Fortunately, my husband reminded me that we don’t do that. He said, “Are you doing to get a tv put in the car while you’re at it?” That’s a post for another day but our girls have never watched tv in the car so his comment brought me back to reality.

And thank goodness it did. As I stood at the bank, Katherine began to get fidgety. Suddenly, I notice that there were lines designing the glass doors of the bank. I suggested that she count them and she did. She then spent the next ten  minutes counting and comparing the number of lines of each door. Without knowing it, she focused on counting up to 50 and then comparing which doors had the greater or lesser number of lines.

And there was a teachable moment that never would have happened if I had brought along electronic entertainment…