Math Chat: It Starts in the Family

While my daughter and I were driving the other day, she asked how fast we were going. I took a quick look at my speedometer and answered without a second thought. Then she said, “What does that mean?” What does she mean, what does that mean? A simple question suddenly turned into a very familiar parent dilemma. 

How deep do I dive into this topic? Do I explain what measurement means? Should we talk about conversion? Do I simply explain the difference between slow and fast speeds? What’s a fast speed for a car versus a person? I constantly struggle with finding the right balance between oversimplifying and overwhelming her. 

We’ve all been there. Even as a teacher and a mathematician, I’m still caught off guard by the simplest ideas. What is addition? So that means the answer is always bigger, right? Wait, then what’s a negative number? Much like learning how to do my taxes, I’m sure having these sorts of conversations should have been taught to me in school. Interestingly enough, I’m always surprised with myself and my own understanding. 

I hear from a lot of parents that talking to their children about math is difficult. But we often forget that we subconsciously engage in mathematical thinking every day. These everyday concepts are important fundamental building blocks for our children. Just like reading aloud to your children fosters literacy, real-life math conversations build mathematical fluency.

You might be thinking, “Well, I don’t use math daily”. I promise you: you do! Some of the most important mathematical concepts are hard to teach in the classroom, but are a lot easier for us parents to teach through simple conversations. 

For example, I often see my students struggle with estimation. It’s hard for them to come up with a range of numbers their answer should be, and they tend not to check if their answer is reasonable. These are skills that we adults have picked up somewhere along the way. We estimate our grocery costs, the number of potatoes we need to cook for dinner, and how long our afternoon hike will actually take. We often take this everyday mathematical thinking for granted.

Our aim with Talking Math is to highlight simple ways we can share these skills with our children. We’ll also continue to highlight fun, low-stress ways to alleviate math anxiety, and tips for adults to confront their own feelings about math. Building these skills will help your kid’s foundational number sense and math literacy, preparing them for both math class and real life.