Does Your Kid Hate Math? Here is How to Help
Some kids love math, but many kids hate it since they struggle. Kids may find it hard to see the importance of it in their daily lives and future. Many parents have children who struggle with math and develop a negative attitude toward it. They might hate it because they believe they are not smart enough to understand it and it hinders them from improving. The good news is that there are some things you can do about this and get math help for kids.
Does your kid hate math? Here is how to help.
1. Offer Support
When your children are at home, offer to be their support system. When frustrated with a homework, it can cause meltdowns and tantrums that they need to be supported through. In class, teachers and classmates can be helpful and supportive when a child doesn’t understand something. When they are home, help them physically, mentally and emotionally instead of sending them to their room to do homework.
When you are around them doing homework, you get involved and learn what is going on during their class time. You can help by remembering formulas and concepts and jogging their memory when they forget.
2. Praise Efforts
If you know your child is struggling with math, don’t put down their test scores if they don’t come back the best. It is best to praise their efforts and hard work to encourage them to keep improving their knowledge.
When they bring home a test, sit down and analyze how they tackled each problem. Praise where they went wrong and address what they could do next time with things they got wrong. Keep moving forward and don’t skim by what they got correct.
3. Make Math Useful
A lot of the time, children don’t like math because they don’t think it is useful. Sometimes they need help figuring out how math relates to their life. Try tying math to their goals and dreams. Math is important to accomplish dreams, whether they want to do something with science or art. It can help them be more motivated to learn things for their future.
Talk about how they will need a budget or understand money when buying something one day. When you run errands together, remind them that math is everywhere and is important to understand in many situations.
4. Set Goals and Rewards
Setting goals is a great way to motivate your kids to keep trying when struggling with math. Small goals with fun rewards help them recognize that they are achieving something rather than brushing past small wins. Simple things like setting a time to get a couple of problems done and then rewarding them with a favorite snack will make it more enjoyable for them to get through.
5. Explore Learning Styles
There are four learning styles, visual, auditory, kinesthetic and reading. If textbooks aren’t working for your child, try different ways to do the math problems. Your child might do better learning online with videos or you can create your own hands-on activities. Many online tools have real teachers explaining what to do and activities to apply what was learned.
A lot of children do well with hands-on learning. Counting with counters or manipulating objects to see math skills in action will benefit them since they are seeing it in action. You can use legos, chocolates or anything accessible to enhance the experience.
6. Keep Up Practicing
Some people have a natural ability to understand math quicker than others. Even if your child doesn’t grasp the concept right away does not mean they are bad at it. They just need more practice. Like many other things, it takes hard work to be good at math. Don’t let your child give up if they fail on their first try. Explain how the more they practice doing math, the better they will be at doing it. Once they get better, their hatred toward it can start to fade.
7. Monitor Homework Tasks
When your kids have a lot of homework, they may get overwhelmed. Set up a routine and teach your kids how to organize their tasks based on priorities. Even if they don’t have specific math homework, set up a schedule that allows practice once the priorities are done.
Having everything organized so they know what to expect will help them feel prepared to tackle what comes their way.
8. Change Their Perspective
Your child might hate math because they put a negative connotation around it. Help your kids change how they think about math so they have a positive mindset ready for growth. An optimistic attitude will make learning more bearable and showing them mistakes help them learn. Be a good role model by expressing positive feelings towards the subject.
Help Your Child Excel in Math
These tips are a great way to start your child’s learning development on a good note. Math will be vital for them at all points in life, even beyond school. Teach them how to navigate this learning curve and watch the improvements they make along the way.
