Nobody asked for these specifics, Brenda
Honestly, I'll take 'one and three quarters', before I'll take 21 months. This, to me, is almost as annoying as when couples declare it's their 'half year anniversary'. I'm not great at Latin, but I'm pretty sure you've just shat all over the etymology of that word.
Why are parents obsessed with this level of detail? I have a few problems with it and you're about to hear them.
Don't ask me to count
Maths was probably my least favourite subject at school. When I'm hit with '31 months', my brain has to work very hard to calculate what age your child actually is — why would you do that to me? You've brought me right back to Sr. Meabh's pass maths class in St. Louis, Rathmines and, let me tell you, that wasn't a good time for anyone.
Triggering aside, there's every chance I'll get it wrong and ask has he started college yet.
None of need this stress. Help a sister out and round it off.
Nobody actually cares
I feel like I'll get away with saying this because I have a child. Others might not get off so lightly. The fact is, people are only asking to be polite — they don't really care how old your kid is.
Mark my words, they'll follow up in one of two ways; with surprise at how big the child is given this highly specific number, or how quickly the time has flown since they were born. This is baby talk 101, it's always one or the other.
Only doctors need to know
Unless you're talking to a medical professional, a rough estimate to the closest year will honestly do. Your public health nurse actually cares of little Emily is 16 months and three weeks old.
To everyone else, she's one and a half. End of story.
