Math and Kids: How to Encourage Good Attitudes
I hate math. I always have. I feel like I missed some key component in elementary school. Maybe I was sick the day they explained how everything worked. I spent way too long adding and subtracting on my fingers. I remember my mom trying to help me with my homework, but I was so frustrated and insecure it was like pulling teeth to get me to even TRY. Only recently have I started to feel a little more willing to work with numbers and calculations. I guess I’m too old to be self conscious anymore. I worry a lot about my daughter. I don’t want her to feel the way that I do about math. Luckily, my husband is a real math wiz so he’ll be around to help her out when she needs it. In my opinion, girls are not as encouraged to become successful in math as boys are.
How do you feel about math? If you’re insecure about your math abilities, are you worried about passing those insecurities on to your children?
PBS has a great do’s and don’t list for guiding children through mathematical education:
1. Don’t pass on a negative attitude toward math. Saying “I was never good at math” only makes your child feel afraid. (If my parent was never good at it, I probably won’t be good at it either!) You want to convey an attitude of curiosity. You can say “I’m not sure I remember this — let’s work on it together. If we get stuck, we’ll ask for help.” You can also say, “Wow! I didn’t learn this until high school. Good for you!”
2. Do let your child see you do math. Let him see you balance your check book, figure out what store has the best buy for an item you want, estimate how much chicken to buy, find where a picture should be placed on a wall, keep score at miniature golf, or buy gas for the car. Let him see that you do math everyday and that it helps you manage the things you have to get done.
3. Do your mathematics thinking out loud. Let your child hear how you are figuring out when to put the roast in the oven so it will be ready for dinner. When measuring, say aloud, “Now how many teaspoons are in a tablespoon?” Then answer yourself, or if you don’t know, look it up in the cookbook. It is OK to use a reference. Count your change out loud.
4. Don’t make math seem boring and dreary. Instill in your child the same level of comfort and excitement you share when you read to him. Play math games, get puzzle books and work them out together. A friend used to put a puzzle on the refrigerator and would keep it there until someone solved it. Granted, sometimes he had to act stumped and give hints to be sure his child came up with some of the answers.
image: picture-book
