How many times has your child grumbled and complained to you about math word problems?
Maybe they don’t get why they have to solve them and ask you, “What’s the point of this? When will I use this in real life?”
These sorts of questions tend to pop up more when asked to solve problems that seem a little far-fetched.
“Tom goes to the store and buys 50 bags of flour…”
“A watermelon weighs 100 pounds and is made of 99% water…”
Can you blame them?
Of course they’ll scratch their head and show resistance when the problem seems unrealistic and unimaginable!
While your child may not encounter an exact situation described in a math word problem, there’s an important reason they’re asked to solve it:
So that they develop strong analytical and critical thinking skills.
As we know, it’s incredibly important to develop thinking skills. Our parenting skills tips can help you nurture conceptual thinking skills so that your child becomes academically and professionally successful in the future!
Parenting Skills Tip #1: Make It Interesting
How many times have you asked your child, “How was your day?”
And how many times have you gotten a less than grandiose reply?
Maybe just a “good!” or “fine!”
Instead of asking a question that gets you a one-word response, rephrase the question with the intention of opening up a discussion.
It helps them to pause and really think about the questions that you ask.
