Why Bill Cosby Became Famous

Bill Cosby was right about one thing: Kids say the darnedest things.

There is a family guy episode in which Stewie gets on Cosby's Show and says, "I was under the impression the name of the show was "Kids Say the Darndest Things," not "Old Black Comedians Never Shut the Hell Up." (Sorry for the political incorrectness...) Anyways, there is a reason why people watched that show. Kids do say the darnedest things.

As the youngest in my family, I never had the opportunity to watch a little sibling grow up. And so, I never had the chance to laugh at little children do funny things very often.

However, on the second night of Passover, three of my cousins came over for the Seder -- they are ages 3, 7 and 7 (the last two are twins). The twins are of course funny and cute (and can read very well as we were all privileged to hear). Yet, the three year old by far provided the entertainment for the night at the far end of the table.

I have a two friends who teach 3 and 4 year olds, and so I decided to see what this three year old could do. In my infinite wisdom, and slow IV of teacher juices flowing through me, I tried to teach the three year old how to add. This of course was not a task I really thought would be successful, but I figured it couldn't hurt.

Before moving onto using manipulatives (as in AWESOME Duplo blocks from my childhood) as my means of teaching addition, I began by using fingers. We first scaffolded by counting the fingers on my hand, which she did very successfully, making it up to five. I then had her count the one finger on my other hand, which she did successfully. When I put that one finger out, I had used my index finger.

Next came the big moment: What would happen when I put the one finger next to the other five, and asked the three year old how many there were together? Well, this is how it went:

"So if we have five fingers and one hand (I hold up one hand), and on finger on the other hand (I for some reason choose to use my thumb to represent the one finger), and we put them together (and so I put them together), How many fingers are there together?"

The Answer: "GOOD JOB!"

Good Job? Good Job? That's not a number!

It was not for a few moments until I realized what had happened. The three year old, being as literal as possible (How I didn't see this one coming I have no idea....) had seen the single thumb on my right hand pointing up, and concluded that 5 + 1 = Good Job.

It was then that I moved onto the Duplo, and actually, was semi-successful.

Good Job, Sam.