My 8 year old granddaughter says why to learn maths.

Question

She has a phone to do all the Maths. She claims. What should I answer to that?

Answer 1

I tell my kids that Maths is more than arithmetic. At her age she is learning calculations mainly and so Maths can seem pointless. Like with all subjects the beginning is usually boring but as she gets older she will learn maths that is more interesting and will help her to solve problems in real life. A phone will not do that for her!

Answer 2

Hello maryl

Thank you for posting your question.

Children develop their values from their parents and those around them. Developing an understanding that learning is a gift, whether it is Maths or any other subject needs to be modelled by parents, teachers and grandparents. Show your granddaughter what you learnt, delight in the process, be brave enough to fail over and over again. Perhaps you might even ask her to teach you something?

She won't change her mind overnight, but you may well plant a seed of interest, which will grow as she does.

I hope this helps?

Chenali@Level Up Kids

Answer 3

There are loads of free maths games online which make learning maths so much more enjoyable for kids than just staring at an excercise book and they don't really consider it work at all. My six-year old often asks to play them in his freetime and obviously, the more he practices the easier, less frustating and more enjoyable his lessons are so it really pays off. The more he plays, the less he resists more traditional forms of teaching.

I also try to compare learning maths to solving puzzles or clues in a quest, telling him that once he's got the basics, he can break any code. This is less effective and usually involves additional bribary and haribo, but baby steps. Ultimately, you can't go wrong with getting them in front of a screen though (and you can even make dinner in the meantime). Hope some of this helps!