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1. Do they seem to have been taught a different method for something you remember? Not a problem: get them to #teach you theirs, and encourage them to try to understand yours. See if you can spot similarities. Why do both work? Can you find reasons why one may be "better" than the other (there are no right answers here, but just being more familiar doesn't count)?
2. Are they doing something you don't recognise, or maybe you do recognise but never got the hang of it? Get them to #teach you as much of it as they can. Work together on it. Admit that you don't understand it YET but don't use this as an excuse to not engage. Learning new things is a positive thing. Not understanding something is a prerequisite for learning something new.
4. That's not just in front of your children, either: stop doing it with other adults. Better still, challenge other adults to stop doing it. If you want your child to succeed in #maths you MUST genuinely have a positive attitude towards it, not just fake it in front of them.
Challenging adults to stop being openly negative about maths is hard because it's a pretty sore spot for some & we don't want to make anything worse (or start an argument). But leaving it to fester isn't good either.
So when *you* call out public negativity towards maths... How?
@TeaKayB I offer them a rephrase: "It's okay to not enjoy maths; there are plenty of things I don't enjoy. But how about saying something else like 'That looks fancy!' or 'Wow it's great that people like geometry'." I dunno, I improvise. Better to offer what to do, than to say what not to do.
But sometimes I just kick them in the shins.
@RealityMinus3 @TeaKayB when I was little and said “that’s boring” my father always replied - “no, it is not boring, even if you are bored by it”
@Bruce @RealityMinus3
I sometimes have a reflex response to "this is boring" of "you're boring", which is possibly not helpful.
@TeaKayB @Bruce Well, I mean ... sometimes a shock of confrontation startles a person into reconsideration. Instead of what probably amounts to cajoling or pleading, which provides a surface to push back against, I do also favor a direct "thanks for shitting on my subject" or "that's a hurtful thing to say." Prompt them to take responsibility for their words.
@RealityMinus3 @Bruce
Good point. Sometimes people need to hear "actually, that's not fair".