4 Ways to Help Your Kid Feel Good About Math Learning

By Chloe, Instructor

Math can be an incredibly frustrating subject for children—not necessarily because math is inherently frustrating, but because one simple mistake in a string of correct calculations still leads to being wrong. Even if you’ve had years of practice developing emotional resilience, coming back to a subject that has repeatedly told you no and made you feel stupid is a challenge. Often, this leads to “avoidance” behaviors in kids who will try just about anything to stay away from those pesky math problems.

So what’s the solution? How can you help make learning math fun, or at least help your kids feel good about themselves even when they’re getting things wrong? Below, you’ll find a list of 4 ways to encourage your kids who are still developing their skills.

1. Point Out What They Did Right

   Just because the final answer in a math problem is wrong doesn’t mean there wasn’t some good logical thinking along the way! In a multi-step problem, sometimes all but one of the steps was calculated correctly, but that mistake threw the answer off. In a word problem, choosing the correct operation (addition, multiplication, etc.) is a successful decision, even if the numbers were then incorrectly calculated. Sometimes building confidence requires being reminded where you were right, even within being wrong.

2. Own Your Own Mistakes

   Kids feel more safe making mistakes when they are in an environment where they observe that it is safe for others to make mistakes, too. If you incorrectly calculate something in your daily life, whether it’s how many minutes are left before it’s time to leave or how much money the grocery bill is going to be, call it out! Say, “I was wrong about that, I’ll get it right next time.” The more often “it’s okay to be wrong” is modeled for your child, the more likely they will be to put it into practice within themselves.

3. Talk About Math Like It's a Sport

   Playing a sport requires skills that take practice to acquire. On that level, math and sports are very similar. It takes years and years of practice to be able to solve math problems quickly, just like it takes years and years of practice to be able to successfully score a goal from the free-throw line or kick a field goal. When a kid is learning a sport, we’re likely to be very encouraging, even in the face of defeat and failures. If you talk about math using the same types of terminology, kids will feel more confident and more likely to try again once they’ve gotten something wrong.

4. Track Progress/Repeat Earlier Problems

   One of the best ways to feel good about how much you’ve learned and grown in your math journey (or any journey) is to keep track of your progress. One easy way to do this with math is to look back at some of the work you did weeks, months, and years ago to compare your understanding of it now to your understanding of it when you first started. When you can see and remember how confusing something was that is now so intuitive, it helps remind you that even a new and frightening concept can be mastered with time and practice. It can also be fun to retake old tests and see how much easier they feel with more years of experience. Turn it into a game by timing the retest and seeing if they can beat their time on another attempt.

There is no one correct method to learn math, and no child’s learning journey is the same. While a concept may be very intuitive for one child, it can be incredibly confusing to another. The most important thing in learning is remaining open to the process. If you can help your kid remain positive in the face of a challenge, they are likely to succeed far more than they otherwise would.

To find out more about where your child is at with their math learning, schedule a free math skills assessment with Mathnasium. Assessments are currently all online via live-stream with an instructor, although instructional sessions can be either online or in-person.