> People just want to know why it's x and not something else or how a letter can have value. The way I was taught it and the way that worked now for my now 3 y

> People just want to know why it's x and not something else or how a letter can have value. The way I was taught it and the way that worked now for my now 3 year old is just to say pirates buried a number under the X, and that we need to guess what they buried. If the concept of a number being hidden is a barrier to understanding for anyone they have seriously bad teachers.