I’m a math mom. And I’m a paranoid mom. So when I saw the opportunity to put these two together on a daily basis, I was elated.

Every night before bed we say our “words” right before our prayers. The routine sounds like this:

My name is Doodle Crowder. My dad’s name is Big Crowder.* His number is 713-555-1254. My mom’s name is Bon Crowder. Her number is 713-555-1245. Thank you Jesus for letting me have a good day. Be with everybody who loves me, including…

The safety benefit is obvious.

If she’s ever lost or otherwise not where she’s supposed to be – at any age – she’ll have our phone numbers ingrained into her little noodle. With that memorized so clearly she’ll be able to tell any police officer around exactly to whom she belongs.

This makes me much more comfortable about her growing up.

The math part is really cool.

We teach children this poem:

One two three four five

Six seven eight nine ten

But this really means nothing. They’re just words. Until a child can associate each word with another (different) object, “counting” is merely a trick.

Kind of like thinking that a kid can read just because they know how to sing the alphabet.

And the association of each number word with an object is really very advanced. Especially since “seven” has two syllables. Might “se” and “ven” each be a number? And there’s no telling (for a child) if  “won,” “wonto” or maybe “wontothree” is a single number!

Kids differentiate number words by hearing other combinations!

If they hear “towonthree” and “threetowon” and “wontothree” they can start to see where the sounds break. If “se” and “ven” are always stuck together, they start to understand that “seven” is a single word.

Phone numbers are a great way to help them say and hear lots of number words in different orders. And it keeps it from getting too boring for you.

Safety and math go together!

So add the phone number routine to the front of your prayers. Pick the top two or three phone numbers in your little one’s lives and say them every night.

And share your thoughts on this. What else do you do in your bedtime routine that supports math?

*Names changed to protect our privacy – whatever little sliver of it there might be left. 😉