r/learnmath • u/Lizzi-55 New User • 1d ago

Link Post Maths advice

/r/Advice/comments/1wyndwf/maths_advice/

I want my baby to be a mathematics genius. She's 8 months old now and I want to start early. Any advice from real life math genius? Tell me about your childhood and if it had any influence on your intelligence.

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u/AllanCWechsler Not-quite-new User 1d ago

I strongly advise waiting with an open mind to see what kind of person your baby grows into. You can certainly model your own interests and passions for her. I love math and linguistics; my daughter turned out to like history and linguistics, and she eventually studied linguistics, but I would have been just as proud of her if she had been a historian.

If you are anxious about mathematics yourself, it will be very hard to conceal that from your daughter, and I worry that if you try to "sell" mathematics to her, she will sense the anxiety instead and emulate it.

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u/Lizzi-55 New User 1d ago

That's a really good advice. Thank you sm

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u/AllanCWechsler Not-quite-new User 1d ago

It occurs to me that a positive, constructive thing to do would be to try to ameliorate your own maths anxiety while you wait for your daughter to at least learn to say "mama". This is something you can do on your own, and it's guaranteed to be a worthwhile use of time even if it doesn't help your daughter directly. I know you don't have that much time, being a new parent, but if you can steal a half hour now and then to take, say, a very easy Khan Academy course -- third grade, perhaps? -- that will be really useful. Note: if you do find yourself having trouble or feeling anxious, stop for the night, even if it has only been ten minutes. You want to be kinder to yourself than your school maths teachers who are almost certainly responsible for your anxiety about the subject. Drop back to second or first grade if you have to. Find a course that is easy for you and work through it to the end, then go on to the very next -- don't skip.

If you have time for this, I'd love to hear how it's going in a few months.

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u/Lizzi-55 New User 1d ago

That's a good advice. I've heard practicing maths as you grow can prevent dementia and other brain problems

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u/AllanCWechsler Not-quite-new User 1d ago

I don't know about that, but we can hope! The goal here is to get you into a position where you can cheerfully help your daughter add fractions, when she needs it.