How many birthdays?

[Jerrymac]

I asked my 11yr old son the other day how old he was when he turned ten. Insstantly he grinned and said he was ten. I asked if he was sure about that. Didn't he have to be nine in order to turn ten. Now he was confused. And after thinking about it, so am I. I thought I would put the question to you guys and see what happens. Please explain how you came up with your answer.

How old were you when you turned ten?

Also, was it your tenth birthday? Or was it really your eleventh? After all, your first birthday was the actual birthday, the day you were born.

[Kris^]

I only celebrate the anniversaries of my birth; I have just one birthday.  On my tenth birthday anniversary, I'd completed ten years of life.  Just the day before, I had been 9 years + 364 days old.  My tenth anniversary was a fleeting moment, but we agreed to celebrate it all day.  And as time rolled on, so did the anniversay: 10 years + 1 day, 10 years + 2 days, etc.  Until -- viola! -- I'd stacked up 11 years' worth of days.  And was able to celebrate yet another free trip around the sun!  

-- Kris

[Horns Pure Honey]

I would say that Kris put it very well, bye

[beemaster]

I fully agree that we only have ONE birthday, after all how many mothers would help their grown child reinact the event    

The rest are celebrations of successfully making it another year. After all, we can't say we are "one year old" until that one year has past - we use terms like he is 6 months old, etc.

I think this gets mixed in with the planet's calendar too - we weren't into the 21st century officially until 2001 - by its very name the year 2000 says it is in the 20th century, and 2001 thus started the BEGINNING of the 21st.

But I ask though, why wouldn't 2099 be the end of the 20th century??? Seems to make more sense to call 2100 the 21st, but we all know they'd call that the 22nd!

I guess either way, it is a celebration of life and surviving another year. And just think, kids born today have a very high success rate at seeing the  100th anniversary of their own births.