While tutoring…

Me: “So the problem says there are 3 horses with 7 spots on each horse, then asks how many spots there are in all. So first, let’s draw the horses.” (I start drawing) 

Kid: (laughing hysterically) “Those aren’t horses, they’re just blobs!”

Me: “Yes, I know honey. I’m not actually drawing horses, I’m just drawing circles to represent the horses. Because when you’re problem solving in math, you want to focus on the numbers, not on drawing pretty pictures.”

Kid: “Oh, ok. That makes sense.”

I was definitely trying to draw horses.