Create a positive environment around math by speaking positively about it. Treat math as a language by counting and measuring things together, focusing on the process rather than right/wrong answers. Have ongoing "math dialogues" about everyday activities, asking children to estimate quantities and describe their reasoning. The goal is for children to feel comfortable with math and see it as a visual, estimative subject rather than just numbers, helping them enjoy math more than their parents.

1. (NU) - Were you a math whiz
growing up, or did you struggle
and feel anxious at the mere men-
tion of math? As a parent, you
surely don’t want your child to
experience the same thing.
“It’s easy to help your child not
only excel at math but also enjoy
it,” says Raj Valli, the founder of
Tabtor Math, a tablet-based math
learning program for K-8 children
personalized by a dedicated tutor.
“Create a math-friendly environ-
ment, make math a playful lan-
guage and participate in an ongo-
ing dialogue about math.”
Valli offers the following
advice for helping your child
enjoy math.
Create a positive environ-
ment around math. Since chil-
dren model the attitudes of those
around them, speak positively
about math (even hiding your true
feelings). Say encouraging phras-
es like, “It’s really cool that you
can use math every day.”
Think about math as a lan-
guage. Because children begin us-
ing language when they are very
young, they don’t feel the same
anxiety about reading and writing
as they do about math. To transfer
this positive attitude over to math,
approach math as a language,
rather than as a “problem.” Count
things together, measure things to-
gether and talk about the numbers
involved in any activity you are do-
ing together. Don’t worry too
much about getting answers
“right” or “wrong.” Instead, help
them think through the process of
using math aloud, in words.
Hold a math “dialogue” cen-
tered on everyday activities.
Once your child is comfortable
with thinking about math in lan-
guage terms, ask at the super-
market how many cookies are in
a package and how your child cal-
culated this answer. She might re-
fer to the size of the package or
the size of the cookies inside.
Whether right or wrong, it’s im-
portant to emphasize the process
used in her head to make the
guess. This gets her thinking
about math as a visual subject in-
volving shape and volume, rather
than just as numbers in a line.
You might ask an older child
how many slices of bread are in
a loaf, how thick each slice is and
how long the loaf is. Open the
package to see how close the es-
timate was. He will learn to feel
comfortable with estimating and
will enjoy a conversation with
you using math as a focal point.
If you set the stage correctly,
you’ll find that your child enjoys
math more than you did -- and
then you can relax and enjoy
your child’s future success in
the classroom.
To learn more, please visit
www.tabtor.com.
How to HelpYour Child
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