Most of us dread hearing or come across anything that is related to math or numbers, and so do children. But whether you like it or not, mathematics is omnipresent and utterly significant. From our everyday lives to scientific and technological discoveries, Mathematics is the foundation of everything around us.
One cannot imagine life without Mathematics, so it’s better to come to terms with the fear and accept the subject’s importance. Math anxiety and its more severe forms such as math phobia have kept many students from opting for challenging disciplines where mathematics plays a fundamental role. If your children are afraid of or dislike math, this blog will throw light on how to cope up with that fear and develop a liking for the subject.
Recognize & address the problem:
Hearing your child say ‘I can’t do Math’ or making excuses to avoid the subject, can be early signs of Math Anxiety. To address this problem, you must talk about the significance of the subject and teach children to have fun with numbers. The parents can even talk to the tutors and help children understand the basic concepts of math, to simplify the process.
Do mental calculations in everyday life:
Go beyond the books and find a way to use numbers and calculations with your child in everyday life. This will help children take interest in the subject. You can take your children grocery shopping and try to beat the shop-keeper in his speed of calculation, make them keep a score of soccer matches, calculate the time they will take to reach the school, etc.
Regular exposure to such things can make understanding statistics simpler in future.
Positive encouragement:
People believe that only some children have the ability to be good at math, which is nothing but a myth. This theory’s even knocked down by research, but many teachers still believe it.
Instead of being negative when the children get something wrong, talk about the problems with them and emphasize the aspects that they got correct. Positive encouragement is a great way to help children overcome the math phobia.
Make math fun:
In math, the ability to play around with numbers is vital for mental arithmetic as well as real-life. Playing games that are numbers oriented is an excellent way to make math fun. Whether its old
school card and board games or multiple puzzles found online, these games will ease out the complications and make math concepts easier to understand.
While this activity may seem less educational, they will still be effective for your child’s learning as they arouse an interest in the subject – which is the first step towards independent and active learning.
Build confidence:
If your child has always done badly in math, then it is natural for them to dislike the subject. As parents, you have to identify the weak areas and simplify it for them. You can also give them incentives for every equation solved correctly to motivate them further.
Every successful calculation will build their confidence and thereby make them like the subject.
Thus, it’s an established fact that being skillful, or at least, competent in math is necessary to survive in modern life. Its better if we start helping children with math in their early years since it is scientifically proven that 75% of the brain develops most rapidly in the first few years of a child’s life.
So, let’s start now and bring out the genius in your child.
