How to Help Your Child in Maths?

Like many of us when we are young, many children find mathematics a very daunting and boring subject. It does not have to be so. As a parent, you can provide your child with a head start now by giving him the right foundation and environment for learning maths. And it is not difficult to start. As our children go about exploring and discovering things around them, they are exposed to the world of mathematics and they can learn these important concepts beyond the classroom.

As we already know, children are very curious - it is important for parents to make it a point to continue to encourage this inquisitiveness. You can introduce your child to mathematical concepts at an early age and involve these ideas in daily activities that have element of maths. With the right exposure, he will not be fearful of maths, but in fact be intrigued by how relevant maths is to his world.

Here are some practical tips on what you can do to introduce maths to him in everyday activities:

1) When shopping for groceries, you can always ask him how much to pay for the items in a basket. You can further encourage him to pay for the groceries and count how much change he should get back (encourages mental calculation). Another variation is to cut newspaper/magazine coupons and let your child calculate how much money you have saved on this week’s groceries through these coupons. Using mental maths can make children become stronger in everyday maths skills and you should provide opportunities and encouragement for your child to practice mental calculation.

2) When cooking, you can ask him to help you measure the right amount of solid (e.g., 2 teaspoons of sugar, 3 cup of flour) or liquid (e.g., 20 ml of syrup, 2 half cups of milk). You can also ask him how much beans or sugar several different cups could hold. This will enable him to understand the concept of volume/capacity.

3) As you are preparing to cook, you can ask your child to guess weights of different food that you will be cooking by holding the objects and then ask him weigh them on a scale. You can aid his understanding by explaining to him the metric system, kilograms and grams and also train his estimation skills by asking him how much six apples would weigh. You can further ask him to calculate how much the apples would cost, if 100 grams of apple cost $0.50.

4) To teach your child about time, you can ask him to keep track of the time spent on each daily activity – meals, sleep, watching TV, school and games. Guide him to complete a pie chart to breakdown the amount of time spent on each daily activity.

5) When buying shoes or clothes for family members, you can ask him to compare the sizes and rank them from the smallest to the biggest. You can also ask him to compare the length, weight and height of family members to reinforce the concepts.

6) During dessert time, get your child to divide the cake into equal portions for everyone at home. This will help him learn about fraction.

7) When organising and packing your house, you can always ask him to placing things into groups of equal sizes (multiplication and division).

8) When wrapping a present, you can ask him about how much wrapping paper is needed to completely cover the box (volume/area)

9) Your child can also learn about angles by looking at sloping objects, such as comparing two roofs or two slides. For the slides, you can even ask him to go on both slides and discuss the differences and effects of different slopes and angles

10) You can help your child learn about circumference & radius by comparing cylinders of different radii. Compare the circumference of the openings of the two cylinders and see how fast water can fill them up by pouring the water into them at the same speed. You can also draw circles of different sizes on the floor, walk around each one and count the steps needed to cover the whole circumference (note: remember to mark the starting point and steps must be taken with toes touching the heel of the foot in front). To illustrate where the centre of the circle is, draw a straight line from one side of the circumference to the opposite side. Repeat with a few more lines and mark the point where all the lines meet - this is the centre of the circle. You can measure the length from this centre to any point on the circumference and explain that this is the radius and illustrate how you can use the radius to draw a circle.

11) There are several ways of teaching maths on the go. You can always encourage your child to calculate how far his school by giving him the average speed you are moving and the time it takes for him to reach school. Another fun game you can play while riding the bus or car is to ask him to call out a license plate number. You can then “challenge” him to get to a number using the numbers on the license plate. For instance, how can you get 5 from “9841”? An answer could be “9 – 8 + 4 ÷ 1” or “4 x 1 + 9 – 8”.

Besides the practical tips above, there are several things that parents should remember to help your child do well in maths. Firstly, while some mathematical problems have only one solution or can only be solved with one formula, there may be many ways of getting the right answer. Most problems can be solved in different ways and learning maths is not only about finding the right answer, but also about the process of solving the problem and applying what the child have learnt to new problems.

While it is important to get the right answer, having the wrong answer is part of learning and parents should not admonish their children. Instead, you should look at the wrong answer to discover what your child may not understand. The wrong answer will point you in the right direction and to ask the right questions on where the mistakes were made. Is it a careless mistake or a case of genuinely failing to understand and apply the right concepts? It is highly likely when parents were students themselves, they were expected to solve many problems using the same formula or method, so as to complete them rapidly. However, in today’s learning environment and indeed in the world of maths, the focus is less on quantity of formulas memorized, but instead on understanding the concepts and applying thinking skills to arrive at an answer.

Most importantly, positive attitudes about math are important for your child's aptitude as a young mathematician. You can help your child by letting them know how he can apply maths in his everyday live, encourage him that everyone can learn maths through simple daily exercises and tips we shared above and how maths can help people in their jobs (relating how cashiers need to use maths to return the change, how architects use maths to design buildings and bridges and how pilots use maths to calculate how long it takes for the plane to arrive at the destination). It is also important to explain to your child why you are doing the activities with him to reinforce the learning.

Mathematics is everywhere, and you do not have to be a mathematician to teach your child maths. There is ample opportunities everyday to help your child live and experience mathematical concepts. Why not start today?

Written by Ms Brenda Yeow and Ms Angeline Tong

Synopisis of Parents' Seminar - EQ:IQ - How You Can Help Your Child Excel

We have received many enquires from parents with regards to our recent parents’ seminar - “EQ/IQ: How You Can Help Your Child Excel”. Thus, for this week’s entry, instead of our usual response to your questions, we’ll be summarizing the key points from the seminar to benefit parents who were not able to attend the talk. Our Q&A session will resume next week with the question from one parent: “How Can I Help My Child Be Interested in Mathematics?”

Synopsis of Seminar – “EQ:IQ - How You Can Help Your Child Excel”
8th June 2008
National Museum of Singapore

Prior to the start of the seminar, the Speaker, Ms Brenda Yeow (PBM), reiterated the importance of selecting the right yardsticks for a child. She advised parents to be realistic about their children’s abilities. Setting too high a benchmark for the child will only serve to de-motivate him/her. Instead, setting achievable targets will allow for mini triumphs and act as a source of motivation for the child to strive for excellence.

Moving on, Ms Yeow shared in details, 7 ways parents can help their children excel. They are:

1) Inculcating the right attitude
2) Nurturing his self-confidence
3) Understanding his learning styles and interests
4) Creating a conducive and emotionally supportive environment at home
5) Encouraging and empowering him to set goals
6) Carrying out activities that build strong bonds
7) Enforcing discipline

The talk ended with Ms Yeow sharing a poem with the parents – “What All Children Want Their Parents To Know” by Diana & Julia Loomans. Due to numerous requests after the seminar, we have included the poem below (see below).

Before the seminar came to a close, there was a short Q&A session. I’ll like to highlight one question from the floor. Throughout the seminar, Ms Yeow has stressed the importance of parents spending quality time with their children. One parent asked how they could spend quality time with each child if they have many children. Ms Yeow replied by asking parents to think about having both quality as well as “special” time. Quality time can be spent together as a family, while special time is only reserved for one child at a time. Each child will be allocated a “special time” with mum or dad where they get to do or talk about things. All siblings will have their own special time to avoid perception of unfairness that could result in unhappiness.

We’ll like to take this opportunity to thank the Speaker, Ms Yeow, the National Museum of Singapore as well as all who have helped to make this seminar a success.

The next parent seminar will be in December 2008. More details to follow.


What All Children Want Their Parents To Know
by Diana & Julia Loomans

Teach me to love and care for myself
Through your positive example.
I will learn much more from what you do
Than from anything you could ever say.

Notice me often,
And take joy in my existence,
So that I grow up to feel special
And know that I am loved.

Listen to me
With an open ear and a loving heart,
So that I learn to understand my feelings
And trust that my needs will be heard.

Play with me often.
Let down your guard and be more carefree.
The memories will last long,
And our connection even longer

Focus on what I’m doing right,
And tell me when you appreciate me,
So that I learn to feel worthy
And motivated to do even more.

Tell me more about life,
Your hopes, dreams and successes,
So that I come to know you as a person
And can call you my friend,
As well as my parent.