“Could you meet me tomorrow when you drop Jeremy to school”?

Emma had a sense of foreboding; why did Jeremy’s teacher want to meet her? 
Jeremy looked preoccupied off late, which was so unlike him, a bundle of energy!

The teacher was warm and welcoming and got to the point without much ado. She said that she had observed that Jeremy had been behaving differently off late.

He’d become reticent, had been avoiding karate classes, and in the recent assessment, his grades had dipped too.

The teacher felt that Jeremy is upset about something and is not able to talk about it. She wanted Emma to help her figure out what was bothering Jeremy. 

Emma knew that Jeremy loved lending a hand in the kitchen. She decided to bake his favourite cupcakes. While Jeremy was stirring the batter, Emma asked if he would call his Grandmom for the Karate Tournament scheduled sometime next month.

Jeremy stopped stirring and looked at Emma with quivering lips and tears in his eyes, “ I don’t wanna participate in no tournament.” 

Emma held him close. Jeremy was now sobbing; he had difficulty understanding math and couldn’t do his homework or answer in class; he felt ashamed about it! 
Oh! So this is what was making Jeremy upset! 

The National Survey of Childrens’ Health shows that more than 5 in 10 children (53.5%) aged 3-17 have behaviour disorders. Behavioural disorders begin in early childhood and are common among children aged 6-11. These disorders have severe consequences in the long run.

Emma met the math teacher, planned to add puzzles and connect math concepts to examples from his favourite action heroes. They hoped it would help Jeremy overcome his fear of math. It was just a matter of time that Jeremy began to look forward to Math classes as much as he did for the Karate class.

Jeremy won a coveted Yellow belt with a dash by perfecting the roundhouse kick! Psst…..a little secret; he perfected the roundhouse kick by understanding the math in it!