There is an article in the paper today suggesting that parents should try harder to be good at maths and to stop boasting about their lack of mathematical skills. That “being bad at maths is not big or clever”.
I have not been proud of the fact that I am rubbish at maths. I certainly don’t “boast” about it. I can’t help being crap at maths. My children picked up on that fact years ago. My son, then aged about 9 once asked me if I had actually done maths at school.
My youngest child very sweetly focuses on what I can do, rather than criticising what I can’t and quite often asks me to relay to his friends my two main areas of expertise:-
1. I am very good at bubble writing.
2. I can say: “twoallbeefpattiesspecialsaucelettucecheesepicklesonionsonasessameseedbun” in approximately 4 seconds (that came from a childhood in Hong Kong spent mostly getting free hamburgers at MacDonalds if you could say that sentence in under 30 seconds!).
I can also wiggle my ears, but so can he, so he’s not that impressed.
He came out of school yesterday with a complaint. He said, “it’s really unfair, you know how now that we’re all 7 or 8 that we don’t want to just play with boys anymore, that we’ve moved on and are now in couples? – well when we’re trying to hang out with the girls, the teachers come along and tell us boys to move on! How unfair is that. Don’t they understand that we have feelings and that we just want to be in our couples?”.
Is that quite sweet or should I be deeply worried?
Working mum
March 20, 2008Agree about not being proud of being bad at maths – do you ever hear anyone boasting that they can’t read? Remember maths isn’t just numeracy, it’s about patterns, connections and beauty – you’re probably much better than you think. Sorry, you’ve hit a nerve here!
CrazyCath
March 20, 2008Quite sweet. Not worried at all. That’s my view. Your children sound VERY balanced and know what they want and that no one is good at EVERYTHING!
Thanks for stopping by mine and the advice – been to stat counter ;0)
girl with the mask
March 20, 2008I can say supercalifragilisticexpidaleotious backwards, but can’t add up for toffee.
I am not proud.
GoneBackSouth
March 20, 2008I think it’s adorable, the couples thing. And Maths was the only lesson I bunked off at school, because Mrs. Gould was the only teacher who didn’t notice (or care). I’m sure my daughter will be out-mathsing me in the not too distant future.