Parents are bombarded with messages to read with their children, but it’s rare to hear about the importance of doing maths with them.
Here are some helpful tips on why and how to instil a love of maths in your children.
Early maths matters
We can take for granted that our children will inevitably learn how to add, subtract, multiply and divide. But early maths lessons establish the base for the rest of their thinking lives. And that’s why it’s important to help children love maths while they're still young.
Parents can build on those first preschool lessons by counting with their children, asking them to look for patterns and recognize shapes, then moving onto numbers.
The goal should be to make maths meaningful by pointing it out in the world around you. Such as when shopping, comparing prices, reading recipes, counting outdoors. By doing this, maths is seen as being as important as reading.
What if maths feels hard?
Parents who hated maths when they were a child, can find it hard to engage their children with learning about maths. And while you might know the importance of helping your children enjoy maths, it can feel hard or impossible for you to do this work with them.
Approach this with curiosity and as an opportunity for you both because maybe, you'll learn to love (or at least, like) maths too.
Avoid talking negatively about maths in front of your child because they'll pick up on your attitude. We know that children like to repeat what they hear and see, so they'll copy you and in this case, it'll result in some unhelpful beliefs about maths. And in reality, it will also give them permission to not try with maths.
If your child believes maths is hard and that it doesn’t really matter, they're not going to be as open to learning. And it's not just maths either, they may carry that attitude into other areas of
learning too.
Play games!
Engaging with maths doesn't need to be boring! Have fun playing maths games with your family. Card games involve maths, car games using number plates, snakes and ladders are just 3
examples.
Flexing Math Muscles
Maths is intellectual muscle building which is critical for your child’s learning and potential. The basics are essential for future learning in their future lives.
