Telling the time, children, watches and clocks

[hc4361]

I was very surprised to meet a 9 year old who cannot tell the time by a traditional clock face.
He had no idea of 'quarter past' or 'ten to' but could tell and understand the time by his digital watch.

Since then I have noticed many people don't have 'proper' clocks in their homes but of course have many digital clocks on dvd players, cookers, phones etc.

Is it usual for children not to learn to tell the time by analogue clock face these days? Is our language changing so that 'I'll meet you at ten fifteen' is used more than 'quarter past ten'?

Do you have an analogue clock in your house?

[Traci66]

My father in law used to say things like five and twenty to ten.

[hc4361]

I say that, too, Traci and 'five and twenty past'.

[Traci66]

He was from London, I always thought it was a southern thing, is it?

[bibblebub]

...with digital you need to work it out mathematically

Anything that may improve the numerical skills of the many people who seem to have an abysmal grasp of simple arithmetic is to be applauded.

[shaneystar2]

I couldn't tell the tIme as a child ..until they realised I couldn't see the clock :)
We have analogue clocks in the house .Nothing digital ,that is discounting the ones on the DVD player ,teevee box thing etc .
I have a normal watch which gives me the time and date .I also have a mobile phone but I never look at it for the time and date .
I always wear a watch .Just a normal watch with little and big hands and a second counter .. Nothing fancy .Just a cheap Sekonda .
Would be lost without my watch although I can look at the time anywhere really .I would be lost without my watch .
Much easier just to look at my wrist than fumble with a phone .

[shaneystar2]

Now I'm repeating myself ....
Bit like Big Ben ....hahaa..

[jno]

big Elizabeth...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/.../uk-politics-18592966

[Briel]

I do have clocks with a regular face and hands all over my house. Our society is definitely advancing and, "quarter past ten" is less common now, but that shouldn't be a reason for a child not to be able to tell time. A reason for that though could be that he has some learning disability. I know that kids with Dyscalculia not only have a hard time learning to read a regular clock, but sometimes even on a digital one too. This is because regular clocks only have numbers for the hour, but not minute. The slahes for the minutes are sometimes not present either. A person with this disabilty can find it not only hard to tell what time it is on the minutehand, but can also get the hands mixed-up. Dyscalculia can also make time management hard for the individual because grasping the concept is very hard for them, so they end up giving up learning to tell time altogether, which makes them grow up not knowing when, "Return home for dinner at minutes to 7:00 PM" is.

[JonnyBoy12]

No, I do have one old fashioned clock in my home; I have ten of them. I learned to tell the time very early on by the way.

Whilst we are on the subject does Big Ben have Roman numerals on its' clock face instead of actual numbers?

[boxtops]

I remember "five and twenty to ten" - it was a long time ago and it was never used it any other context, you'd never say someone was having their five and twentieth birthday. We say "the train goes at ten to eight" - and I still do say that.

[boxtops]

Jonny - yes

[flitty]

Its not just clocks, no table manners as they have sandwiches at school instead of dinners,ask a 15 year old how much carpet to buy for a 8 x 4 metre room ans wont have a clue. Should be lessons in school for how to run a home etc.

[denis567]

I agree with jno, the cheaper the watch the better, as long as it tells the time. My last watch cost me £3.99 and it looks good (to me) and it is very accurate thanks to being quartz.

[wildwood]

Same here. We bought our 11 year old grandson an electronic watch last Xmas but it has an analogue face, and he couldn't figure out. He can tell the time in both "languages" now.

[Wharton]

Why don't 24 hour clocks show 24:00 ?

[woofgang]

Yes flinty and we had to lick the road clean and lived in a cardboard box.

[Zacs-Master]

I find, if I think about it, I can estimate the time to within 15 mins of the correct time. We are obsessed by time and the passing of it. Must have been lovely to live by the sun rather than by the minute.

[hc4361]

Great answers, thanks.

Bibblebub, the analogue clock is also a great teaching aid for maths. Knowing what 'a quarter past' looked like on a clock helped me to understand fractions.

When I was very young, before I started school and up to about 7 probably, my mother taught me with a cardboard clock. She set the time something must be done on the cardboard clock and put it next to the mantle clock. "We are going out at ten o'clock. Tell me when the clock says ten o'clock", sort of thing.

[hc4361]

Wharton, there is no 24 hours. 23 hours, 59 minutes, 59 seconds and nnnnth of a milisecond before midnight is the end of the 24 hour cycle, then it is zero hours.

[Wharton]

At the third stroke the time will be precisely....I want to know the time now, not at the third stroke.