How can I help my child alleviate their math anxiety?

One way to help your child change their negative perception of math is to challenge their preconceived notions. Statements like “you have to have a knack for numbers to be good at math” send the message you need to be gifted or a genius to succeed. In reality, anyone can learn to be good at math, and numbers are all around us. Here are a few tips to help your child develop a positive attitude about math:

• Point out concrete examples of how math is used in everyday life. For example, you could do fun activities that will help them practise their addition skills at the grocery store.
• Read. Books can be great allies for deconstructing myths about math. They can spark a love of math in an engaging way.
• Talk about math while playing sports or board games. For example, you can count up scores, figure out how many squares are on a gameboard, or put playing cards in order.
• Identify opportunities to do math with things you encounter in your everyday life: geometry in architecture, block sets, origami, recipes, travel distances and times, etc.
• Develop your child’s logical thinking skills by solving mathematical riddles, brain-teasers, and puzzles together.
• Etc.

The scientific evidence is clear: children who are praised for their effort and attitude perform better in math than those praised for their ability and intelligence. It can be tempting to say to your child, “Wow, you are very smart!” but this type of statement encourages a fixed mindset, that is to say, the belief that our intelligence cannot improve. With a fixed mindset, a child will grow up thinking that their skills and qualities were determined at birth and that there is not much they can do to change them.

A child who develops a fixed mindset will:

• Avoid challenges
• Give up quickly
• Perceive effort as a sign of low intelligence
• Ignore criticism even when it is constructive
• Feel threatened by the success of others
• Etc.

In contrast, if you praise your child for their effort, you will foster a growth mindset. Your child will understand that their skills and qualities are primarily developed through practice and that they can get better at anything by working hard. 

A child who cultivates a growth mindset:

• Seeks out challenges
• Persists in the face of obstacles
• Perceives effort as necessary for success
• Views criticism as an opportunity to learn
• Feels inspired by the success of others
• Etc.

You can acknowledge your child’s effort in a variety of different ways:

• Praise your child’s efforts, even if you are a little disappointed with the result
• Highlight their progress, however small, to help them focus on the positives
• Point out accomplishments for which you are proud
• Avoid comparing your child to yourself or other students
• Etc.

Most math problems can be solved in multiple ways. To prevent your child from freezing up or getting stuck when solving a math problem, you can encourage them to find different strategies. For example, to easily solve the addition problem 15 + 6 + 5 in your head, you can start with 15 + 5 to get 20, then add 6 to get 26. 

You can also encourage your child to make diagrams, come up with mnemonic devices, use blocks or other objects to represent quantities, take notes, reformulate the problem in their own words, or even turn the problem into a story.

If your child is frustrated because they failed an exam or answered something wrong, it is important to reframe their mistakes as an opportunity to improve and learn.

To pinpoint the source of the problem, you can ask your child if they are experiencing any of the following:

• Difficulty understanding a concept (e.g., your child cannot explain a rule or instruction to you)
• Trouble concentrating (hunger, fatigue, and boredom can all affect a child’s ability to focus, which makes learning more difficult)
• Flaws with the way they approach and check their calculations
• Issues with reading comprehension that interfere with their understanding of word problems
• Low self-esteem, shyness that prevents them from asking questions, or a tendency to develop performance anxiety

Word problems can seem daunting to many students. If this is the case for your child, you can help them by suggesting relaxation strategies or other ways to manage stress:

• Breathing deeply
• Doing a few yoga poses
• Breaking the problem down into smaller, more manageable steps
• Doing expressive writing before a math test (writing about their anxiety and how they feel about the test)
• Taking breaks
• Working in a quiet place that’s free from distractions
• Etc.

Encouraging your child to practise math through play is a great way to boost their motivation and have fun while they learn. One of the benefits of learning through play is that your child will not be afraid of making mistakes, which can reduce their stress and anxiety about math. Here are some activity ideas you can suggest:

• Playing Météormath to practise operations
• Playing Fin Lapin 3 to practise operations and missing terms
• Downloading and printing our games: Math operations puzzle, The Grimoire monster, Math Bingo, and Fractions are a piece of cake!  
• Play with cards, dominos, or blocks
• Etc.