What's 5 + 5 + 5 + 6 ?

That's a simple addition question for someone like you and me. But that definitely is an amazing feat for someone as little as 4 years old.

My son, Jiaheng just turned 4 years old last month. My wife, Tse Wern took 14 months of unpaid leave to stay home and look after him when he was just born. After that, Tse Wern went on part-time teaching. Finally, she left the teaching service when Jiaheng turned 3 years old.

One thing we noticed since Jiaheng was young was his ability to pick up a skill quickly. Be it language, numbers or a game.

Jiaheng can converse very well in English, Mandarin and Cantonese. He is able to read by himself as well. He is exceptionally good with numbers. To date, he can easily recite the 1 multiplication table to 10 multiplication table. He can read the time using an analog watch before he turned 4 years old.

Tse Wern and I firmly believed that Jiaheng can do what he can mainly due to the fact that Tse Wern is able to stay home and teach him.

That day, Jiaheng surprised us once again. We were on the road and Tse Wern saw a car plate number, 5556 in front of our car. So she casually asked "Jiaheng, what is 5 + 5 + 5 + 6?" We were pleasantly surprised and thrilled when Jiaheng said "It's 21."

My wife pushed her luck a little bit more by asking "That's very good. How did you get 21?". "5, 10, 15, 20. Because 6 is one more than 5. So it's 21" Jiaheng answered matter-of-factly.

Jiaheng was actually using his 5 multiplication table to derive 20. Since 6 is 5+1, he got 21 for the answer. :) Well Done, Son!

Tse Wern and I are both very proud of our son. Thank you Jiaheng for bringing so much joy and fun into our lives. We love you ... Jiaheng.