"The Only Bummer is Math..."

Max: “The life of a 2nd grader is great. You get to cut with knives and break some rules. The only bummer is math. “


Math…ugh. I have a long-standing hate-hate relationship with math. I was never good at it and it gave me a pit in my stomach when I had to do it. I remember many a night whining “I can’t do this” while laying across the kitchen table as my mother—a school teacher— quizzed me on multiplication tables. Don’t even get me started on long division. And in my brain, X can never equal Y. Ever.

I’ve tried very hard not to put my fear and loathing of math on to Max. But while we’ve sat at the kitchen table working on double-digit addition and subtraction (with regrouping) I’ve witnessed the draped-on-the-table, whiny, “I hate math” look my mother saw 30-something years ago. Proving as she has always said, “apples don’t fall far from the tree.”

So, how do I encourage Max to work hard at something that is necessary but he clearly doesn’t enjoy? I decided to share with him my struggles in math. I told him that I didn’t always think I was good at math and that I complained to my mom (a lot) when I had to do it. But then I explained why math is important and how I use it every day to do things at work and at home. I also told him how many of the things he’s interested in require math. I also admitted to him that if I had applied myself and whined less, I would have been better at math.

Thanks to a patient teacher, his godmother (who is also a 2nd grade teacher) and lots of hard work by Max, he is making great progress and couldn’t wipe the smile off his face when the certificate (pictured above) came home in his backpack.