I’m Not a Math Person

I’m not a math person, that’s why my child isn’t doing well at math…

Another cringe-worthy comment I’ve heard so many times from parents that just makes me worry about our future. Yes, I’ve said it and I’m sure that I’ve lost the people who really need to read this…

When you say that you were not good at something, you are implying that you had no desire to be good at the thing. For example, I was never good at the monkey bars (true story), I truly did not have any desire to be able to go across an entire monkey bar set. So if I say this in front of my child and then add on that this is the reason why my child is not good at the monkey bars, I further imply that it’s ok for her to not be good at this activity and she doesn’t even have to try. It’s just something that she was born with. It’s something that she will not be able to overcome.

Thinking that not understanding math is a genetic trait is comparing math to eyesight. That’s just not true. Eyesight is something that you may need surgery for. You definitely don’t need surgery to help you be proficient in a subject at school.

Try replacing math with language arts, science, history, art, or anything really. Would that sound right? Why is math getting such a bad reputation? For example, spelling was one of my hardest subjects in elementary school. Does that mean that I’ve passed down a gene to my children that would mean that they don’t need to learn how to spell properly? Can you imagine that lunacy?!

I suggest that parents stop saying that their children are bad at something because the parents were bad at something too. If this were the case I think looking back we would never have made it through the dark ages. “Well, our parents were not good at inventing things so it must be a gene that we all inherited from them so we can not be good at inventing things either.” Sounds kind of silly when we say it like that. Doesn’t it?

Instead, be mindful of what you say in front of your children who are already struggling with math, science, reading, or whatever. Just because you weren’t good at something doesn’t mean that your kiddos must also not be good at something.