All parents want the best for their children and especially so when it comes to their education. They do whatever they can in their power to provide the best. However, most parents are not aware that their children are missing out on a solid math learning foundation. And the long-term cost of this oversight is enormous.

A child learns math through a number of channels like school, after-school tuition, programs like abacus, etc. However, all these learning systems focus on

• Mechanical methods
• Calculations
• Making them solve narrow problem-sets

There is no emphasis on:

• The why of concepts
• Various applications of concepts
• Mental aptitude skills
• Creative reasoning

Being great at math is not just about doing well in school math exams or being able to calculate fast; instead, it essentially means being able to visualize the inter-linkages between different data, ideas, reason logically, analyse patterns, work with ill-defined data, estimate quantities, and so on.

Many students never get to build these higher-order cognitive abilities, and end up being indifferent about math, or even develop an aversion towards the subject. This is unfortunate because, every child deserves to love math and be great at it.

Every child needs to develop, from a very young age, a logical and analytical framework of thinking. This skill is critical for academic, professional and personal excellence.

It is the obligation of parents to heavily invest in the development of their children’s mathematical mind-sets.

What can you do?

• Hold your child’s school math teachers accountable – they are literally shaping up your child’s future. (Read this story of how an informed parent went to great lengths to ensure his daughter’s teachers had to pay for not doing their job properly.)
• Encourage your child to spend time on activities, puzzles, games and apps around math and logic
• Motivate your child to not take anything at face value and question everything, for example, the child should be asking why the Pythagoras theorem works instead of just learning the formula.

As a parent, you are responsible for shaping your child’s growth in all realms. Go an extra mile and strive towards making math your child’s best friend!