12-MONTH RULE

Last week I heard a young mother tell someone that her child was "29 months old". I thought, "WTH?" I actually responded, "Since calculators, I can no longer do math in my head; how old IS that?" I figure if a kid is walking, he must be more than a year old!

When did this trend start? I know I've been hearing it for years. I Googled and found only one site addressing this momentous issue and some of the answers were:

1. They don't want the baby to sound younger.
2. They don't want the baby to sound older.
3. Because babies change so much.
4. Clothing sizes go to 24-months.

I believe in the TWELVE-MONTH RULE (see the below article from THE URBAN DICTIONARY).

Les just came by and saw what I was writing and said, "Hey, you're 842 months old!"

12 month rule

The 12 month rule is when parents have to stop saying how many months old their baby is after they reach 1 year old. Some parents say their baby is 34 months old. They make you do extra math when they could easily say 2 years and 10 months old.

Woman 1: "Aww how old is he?"

Woman 2: "26 months old"

Woman 1: "Don't say 26 months old it's breaking the 12 month rule."