The DU Lounge
Related: Culture Forums, Support ForumsWhat took you a long time to master as a kid? I could not read aloud in class. I was half shy and
half learning disabled. It wasn't until I was in university and taking a second year french class (when I had 13 years of french immersion behind me so I was way better at french than anyone else) when I finally had the confidence to read out loud. My teacher loved my accent too.
dixiegrrrrl
(60,010 posts)Back when I was 6-7-8 or so, kids had shoelaces.
And parents taught you to tie them in what was a backwards, to a kid's eyes, way.
But..I am left handed, so always got confused by how they showed me. I remember being about 8 and still having trouble with laces.
Soon as I could, I started wearing loafers, still do.
When velcro shoe straps came out, I was so damn envious of the generation that got to wear them.
Generic Brad
(14,276 posts)I could not detect the difference between "L"s and "R"s until I was around ten.
Curmudgeoness
(18,219 posts)(but who knew back then). I had a hell of a time reading, and even today I read very slow. I love to read, read all the time, but I am a slow reader. I read to myself exactly like I am reading aloud----every word said in my head. The up side of that is that I remember almost all that I read. I can discuss a lot of books I have read while others forget the book after they are done. I can even find passages that I remember because I know about where they are in the book.
But when I think about it, multiplication tables were probably worse for me----I remember what felt like years of Flash Cards every single night.
applegrove
(118,866 posts)somehow stunning. But when I read the same book a few years later... it all comes back to me. I have trouble with recall it seems.
Odin2005
(53,521 posts)yellowcanine
(35,703 posts)Downright embarrassing.
applegrove
(118,866 posts)yellowcanine
(35,703 posts)the screens. One drop of pee and that sucker went off. It worked. That and restricting fluids before bedtime.
surrealAmerican
(11,366 posts)I was so terrified of the buzzer going off, I couldn't sleep at all!
I don't think anything they tried completely worked. Eventually, I outgrew the problem.
rrneck
(17,671 posts)rrneck
(17,671 posts)Chan790
(20,176 posts)A handy trick. The digits of all multiples of 9 add up to multiples of 9. For all multiples between 2x9 and 9x9, the first digit of the answer is the number being multiplied by 9 -1.
1x9=9 9+0=9
2x9=18 1+8=9
3x9=27 2+7=9
4x9=36 3+6=9
5x9=45 4+5=9
6x9=54 5+4=9
7x9=63 6+3=9
8x9=72 7+2=9
9x9=81 8+1=9
9x10=90 9+0=9
9x11=99 9+9=18
9x12=108 1+0+8=9
etc.
Ikonoklast
(23,973 posts)That went so far over your head, it's in low Earth orbit now.
Chan790
(20,176 posts)I still can't whistle. The stars got straightened out in 2nd grade because our teacher told us grading each other's Math quizzes to put a star if the person got a hundred. I couldn't draw a 5 pointed star but I could draw a 6 pointed star so I drew 6 pointed stars...this worked fine until the day the cute Jewish girl I had a crush on got a hundred so I drew about a dozen (six-pointed) stars because I had no idea what they meant. The next day she came to school with a note from her mother and I had recess detention and had to have a talk with the principal.
bluedigger
(17,088 posts)Populist_Prole
(5,364 posts)The only way I could then, and even now half-ass whistle is not by exhaling through properly pursed lips, but by making a sharp "S" sound.
bluedigger
(17,088 posts)I couldn't master riding without training wheels until my parents took the bike back and bought one just like my best friend's. Then I could do it.
csziggy
(34,139 posts)I got more comments on my report cards because I was a loner, preferred playing alone, working alone, didn't like to work on team projects, etc.
So as an adult I had my own business, one where I didn't have to deal with humans a whole lot and could spend most of my time alone. Works for me!
libodem
(19,288 posts)Took for ever. The rabbit runs under the bush and pops out here. I just couldn't get it. My little brother learned in a snap.
OriginalGeek
(12,132 posts)algebra still fucks me over.
I had no problem with geometry and trig though.
Neoma
(10,039 posts)I hung around all the boy scouts, they didn't bother teaching me...
Populist_Prole
(5,364 posts)Took till I was about 9 or 10. I was terrified of drowning. Finally bit the bullet once and just did a face-down "deadman float" and just started moving my arms and legs pollywog style. Eventually picked up over hand swimming and can do so in the academic sense, but I still swim like a spazz. Picked up reading/writing pretty good. Funny thing is my brother and sister picked up motor skill stuff like bike riding, swimming, and athleticism in general much faster than me; but as I remember, they didn't shed their "baby talk" type speaking until well into 2nd or 3rd grade. ( I mean stuff like "fwee" for 3, "pwuto" for pluto, "caw" for car ) I literally thought even then they were a little "slow". They came along fine though.
Phentex
(16,334 posts)I never learned to use the middle finger...for that purpose.
HopeHoops
(47,675 posts)Brickbat
(19,339 posts)MiddleFingerMom
(25,163 posts).
.
.
ALWAYS got 3/4 of the way around and landed flat SPLAT on my back. OWWIE!!!
.
.
.
It wasn't 'til I was about 23 when my roommate showed me how to flip from the side of the
pool and, without a springboard and extra 1 meter of height, I was STILL getting 3/4 or the
way around... but gained confidence that, from the board, I could now DO it!!!
.
.
.
First time with this new-found confidence and I did a 1-1/2 flip -- found it much easier to do
than a simple flip.
.
.
.
Seriously, one of the BRAVEST, most foolhardy things I have ever done is to do a drunken
1-1/2 flip dive off a 1-meter springboard while skinnydipping.
.
.
.
I did it once. Successfully. But it was enough to last me my entire life.
.
.
.