Guest blogger,
Allison Boley, is sharing today about how to make math fun for your kids. A
physics PhD student at Arizona
State University
A near-drowning incident when she was
a teenager spawned my grandmother's lifelong fear of the water. When she gave
birth to my mom and my aunt, my grandmother—understanding how important it was
for their safety to be able to swim—chose not to pass along her fear. By the
time my sisters, my cousins, and I came along, we were taking swim lessons in
her backyard pool every summer, and sometimes she even joined us in the shallow
end.
Like my grandmother, you may have had
a near-drowning incident, but it may not have been in the water. More likely,
it was in math. You might be like my mother, who used her long hair to hide her
(lack of) algebra answers from her teacher when he walked by her desk. If so, you’ll
want to follow her example in another area and avoid passing along your fear of
math to your kids. Here are some practical ideas.
1. Recognize the math around you.
Take a whole day to be alert to the
presence of math that you already engage in. Notice how by the power of
geometry your key fits into the lock on your front door and other keys don't.
Take the time to look at the percentage sales tax on your receipts. Observe the
patterns on your bathroom or kitchen floor. Appreciate the symmetry in your
clothing (the left side is the mirror image of the right side).
Recognizing the pervasiveness of math
in everyday life convinces us of its importance. In the same way that my
grandmother recognized the importance of swimming to her children's physical
survival, you're probably reading this blog post because you already recognize
the importance of math to your children's academic and maybe even economic
survival. CORDIS, the European Union’s public portal to research results, puts
it well: “…almost every job area today is strongly affected, if not entirely
reshaped, by scientific and technological advancements.” Math is the foundation
of science and technology, and consequently, proficiency in math will
increasingly become a vital job skill in your children's lifetimes. We
literally cannot afford to pass along our own math phobias.
2. Find something you like about math.
Maybe you hated every aspect of math
in high school, but you're not a teenager anymore. You have a different perspective
than you did when you were 17. You've learned some patience and if you read
Linda's blog, you've learned a lot of positivity. So find something about math
that makes you smile.
If you can't find something on your
own, try building a story around your children's math problems. Instead of 3 +
2, it's 3 dragons you must defeat and 2 castles to win, or 3 play cars and 2
toy people. If your child's homework already has a word problem, make it bigger
by asking why. If Susan has a piece of string that she wants to cut into 3
equal pieces, why does she want to do that? Is she making ribbons for her hair?
If so, why? Is she trying to fit in with the popular crowd? Use the opportunity
to teach life lessons in addition to math.
3. Value the challenge of math.
Even if there's nothing inherent in
math that you can enjoy, you can partake of that marvelous feeling of
conquering something that challenged you. Danica McKellar, author of books like
Math Doesn't Suck, encourages girls in particular to intentionally
challenge themselves, and to view the difficulty of math as part of a larger
picture of building character. You can model the character traits of patience
and perseverance for your children in your own interaction with math and teach
them the importance of not giving up.
And be sure to celebrate! When your
child overcomes a difficult problem, tell them what a great job they did. When they
finish a particularly odious homework assignment, reward them with play time or
television or whatever is appropriate in your household. (Don't reward them
with junk food... but that's a different blog.) The end of a grueling semester
or school year is a great time for a trip to the toy store. Build that good
feeling of conquering challenges so that they approach new obstacles with
courage instead of fear.
Even if you had an actual-drowning
experience in math, don't worry. By changing your own attitudes towards math, you
can pass along your newfound confidence to your children and prepare them for
math and for life.
Were (or are) you afraid of math? In
the comments below, share specific ways you're choosing not to pass your fear of
math along to your children.
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