diff --git a/mrun/hook.go b/mrun/hook.go
index 2e38374..f1a7e70 100644
--- a/mrun/hook.go
+++ b/mrun/hook.go
@@ -14,7 +14,6 @@ type ctxKey int
 
 const (
 	ctxKeyHookEls ctxKey = iota
-	ctxKeyNumChildren
 	ctxKeyNumHooks
 )
 
@@ -31,13 +30,10 @@ type hookEl struct {
 	child context.Context
 }
 
-func ctxKeys(userKey interface{}) (ctxKeyWrap, ctxKeyWrap, ctxKeyWrap) {
+func ctxKeys(userKey interface{}) (ctxKeyWrap, ctxKeyWrap) {
 	return ctxKeyWrap{
 			key:     ctxKeyHookEls,
 			userKey: userKey,
-		}, ctxKeyWrap{
-			key:     ctxKeyNumChildren,
-			userKey: userKey,
 		}, ctxKeyWrap{
 			key:     ctxKeyNumHooks,
 			userKey: userKey,
@@ -48,21 +44,22 @@ func ctxKeys(userKey interface{}) (ctxKeyWrap, ctxKeyWrap, ctxKeyWrap) {
 // appends more elements if more children have been added since that []hookEl
 // was created.
 //
-// this also returns the latest numChildren and numHooks values for convenience.
-func getHookEls(ctx context.Context, userKey interface{}) ([]hookEl, int, int) {
-	hookElsKey, numChildrenKey, numHooksKey := ctxKeys(userKey)
-	lastNumChildren, _ := mctx.LocalValue(ctx, numChildrenKey).(int)
+// this also returns the latest numHooks value for convenience.
+func getHookEls(ctx context.Context, userKey interface{}) ([]hookEl, int) {
+	hookElsKey, numHooksKey := ctxKeys(userKey)
 	lastNumHooks, _ := mctx.LocalValue(ctx, numHooksKey).(int)
 	lastHookEls, _ := mctx.LocalValue(ctx, hookElsKey).([]hookEl)
 	children := mctx.Children(ctx)
 
 	// plus 1 in case we wanna append something else outside this function
-	hookEls := make([]hookEl, len(lastHookEls), lastNumHooks+len(children)-lastNumChildren+1)
+	hookEls := make([]hookEl, len(lastHookEls), lastNumHooks+len(children)+1)
 	copy(hookEls, lastHookEls)
+
+	lastNumChildren := len(lastHookEls) - lastNumHooks
 	for _, child := range children[lastNumChildren:] {
 		hookEls = append(hookEls, hookEl{child: child})
 	}
-	return hookEls, len(children), lastNumHooks
+	return hookEls, lastNumHooks
 }
 
 // WithHook registers a Hook under a typed key. The Hook will be called when
@@ -71,18 +68,17 @@ func getHookEls(ctx context.Context, userKey interface{}) ([]hookEl, int, int) {
 //
 // Hooks will be called with whatever Context is passed into TriggerHooks.
 func WithHook(ctx context.Context, key interface{}, hook Hook) context.Context {
-	hookEls, numChildren, numHooks := getHookEls(ctx, key)
+	hookEls, numHooks := getHookEls(ctx, key)
 	hookEls = append(hookEls, hookEl{hook: hook})
 
-	hookElsKey, numChildrenKey, numHooksKey := ctxKeys(key)
+	hookElsKey, numHooksKey := ctxKeys(key)
 	ctx = mctx.WithLocalValue(ctx, hookElsKey, hookEls)
-	ctx = mctx.WithLocalValue(ctx, numChildrenKey, numChildren)
 	ctx = mctx.WithLocalValue(ctx, numHooksKey, numHooks+1)
 	return ctx
 }
 
 func triggerHooks(ctx context.Context, userKey interface{}, next func([]hookEl) (hookEl, []hookEl)) error {
-	hookEls, _, _ := getHookEls(ctx, userKey)
+	hookEls, _ := getHookEls(ctx, userKey)
 	var hookEl hookEl
 	for {
 		if len(hookEls) == 0 {
diff --git a/mrun/hook_test.go b/mrun/hook_test.go
index ef6d9f3..b4c5b09 100644
--- a/mrun/hook_test.go
+++ b/mrun/hook_test.go
@@ -35,14 +35,16 @@ func TestHooks(t *T) {
 	ctxB = mctx.WithChild(ctxB, ctxB1)
 	ctx = mctx.WithChild(ctx, ctxB)
 
+	ctx = WithHook(ctx, 0, mkHook(7))
+
 	massert.Fatal(t, massert.All(
 		massert.Nil(TriggerHooks(ctx, 0)),
-		massert.Equal([]int{1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6}, out),
+		massert.Equal([]int{1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7}, out),
 	))
 
 	out = nil
 	massert.Fatal(t, massert.All(
 		massert.Nil(TriggerHooksReverse(ctx, 0)),
-		massert.Equal([]int{6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1}, out),
+		massert.Equal([]int{7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1}, out),
 	))
 }