Maths is often not the most popular subject among students, but it's one of the most important. As business development professional Fahim Imam-Sadeque explains, there are many ways that parents can help their children develop a love for maths.
A key to helping children enjoy and employ maths to their advantage throughout their lives is to get them started early. Here are five other tips parents can utilise to help boost their children's confidence in maths, assist them in setting goals and help them see just how much maths relates to real life.
1. Make it a Game
Many people view maths as a difficult chore, but it can be a lot of fun, too. For example, many of the most popular games and puzzles involve maths. By helping your children recognise this and making maths a game, you'll be making them more interested in learning.
Board games are a great way to teach maths. The dice that most board games use are an inherent way to utilise maths to figure out how many spots to move forward on a game board, for instance, or what actions to take based on the maths presented.
2. Make Maths a Part of Life
Maths applies to so many practical everyday activities. From shopping to baking to eating out, there are maths involved in these activities.
You can instil a love of maths in your children by showing them how it applies to all the activities they love. If they love to cook, for instance, ask them to take the lead in measuring out all the ingredients you'll need.
3. Change Your Own Attitude
Some children have a lot of anxiety about maths, and some of that might come from their parents having similar anxiety. So, if your children come to you with questions about their maths homework, it's crucial that you react in a positive way.
If your children sense that you have anxiety about maths -- either because you don't like it or have trouble understanding it -- they might develop that same anxiety.
An important tip to helping your children love maths is to have a positive attitude toward it. Even if maths is not your favourite subject, don't let your children sense this. Approaching maths with a positive attitude as parents is a great way to teach children to approach it that way, too.
4. Read
Reading is one of the most important and effective ways parents can help their children learn. From a very young age, parents should be reading to their children as often as possible.
Once you have ingrained the love of reading in them, it'll be much easier to instil a love for maths. That's because many children's books integrate maths into the story. From simple counting books to more complicated mysteries, reading is a great way to help your children love maths.
5. Give the Appropriate Tools
When you have the right tools to do the job, the job becomes infinitely easier. The easier jobs are, the less frustrating they are and, as a result, the more fun they can be.
Fahim Imam-Sadeque says the same concept goes for maths. Make sure your children have the right tools at their disposal when they're doing maths. This might include a calculator or the right technology and appropriate paper such as graph paper.
About Fahim Imam-Sadeque
Fahim Imam-Sadeque is a business development professional with proven experience in the asset management industry. He has a Bachelor of Science in Actuarial Science from the City University of London and is a Fellow of the Institute of Actuaries. Fahim's top skills include asset management, hedge funds, investment management, sales, and consultant & client relationship management.
* This is a contributed article and this content does not necessarily represent the views of sciencetimes.com
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