This article discusses how children learn to understand the decimal system in very concrete ways, while having fun using beads. When counting the beads, the children learn 5,491 is not simply "five thousand four hundred and ninety-one" but actually 5 thousands, 4 hundreds, 9 tens, and 1 unit. They begin to understand that as they get 10 units, they can exchange the units for another 10, and as they get 10 tens, they can exchange them for 1 hundred. This article is framed by the following scenario: a child comes home from school to tell her parent she played with beads all day. The parent subsequently, questions the child's teacher, concerned her child needed something more challenging to do than play with beads. This is a common Montessori parent question, and a classic example of the important role perception plays in how one understands things. The author explains a successful technique of responding to the parent's concerns by trying to discern the answers to the following three questions: (1) What activity is this mother describing to me? (2) What are the parent's perceptions of the work? and (3) Is there anything specific the parent is interested in having the child learn? If so, is the child ready to do that?