Ask HN: My Math Anxiety Journey – Worried About My 5th Grader
1 comments
One often meets one's destiny on the road one takes to avoid it... Fear is contagious. Warn a kid they shouldn't drop the plate and they will; you signaled that you expected them to..
Sounds like you're anxious about him getting anxious.
Sounds like you're anxious about him getting anxious.
Despite getting decent grades in elementary math (around a B), I completely crashed and burned in high school. Failed my first year math class, barely scraped by with D's the rest of high school. College was even worse - managed to pass one math course with a C, but didn't pass the second required course until literally my final semester before graduation.
The whole time I was dealing with serious math anxiety. My heart would race during tests, I'd freeze up completely, and I convinced myself I was just "not a math person." It wasn't until I was almost done with college that I had this lightbulb moment - math isn't some mysterious force, it's literally just following rules and procedures. But by then, years of anxiety had already damaged my confidence.
Now I'm watching my son and I'm scared. He's confident now, but what happens when the material gets harder? How do I prevent him from developing the same mental blocks I had?
I've been reading about math anxiety in kids and found some helpful resources: https://www.apa.org/topics/anxiety/helping-kids-manage-math-anxiety, https://math4fun.io/blog/overcoming-math-anxiety-in-children.html, but I'd love to hear from other parents who've been through this. Did anyone else struggle with math anxiety? How did you help your kids avoid the same pitfalls?
Any teachers or math tutors here with advice on keeping kids confident as the material gets more challenging?