And no, this is not about fraction and crotchets, quavers and semiquavers…

I bet we all feel uncomfortable when we say to a child one thing, and they ask for permission to do (or just simply do) something completely different to what we expected. The wish to say “No” is huge, isn’t it?

This girl was already 7 when she joined my first lesson and looked petrified. Her hands started shaking as soon as I asked her to write “1,2,3,4,5…”.

We had to start from scratch.

Gradually lessons became more effective, and the following story happened when we just about managed to comprehend adding, subtracting and multiplication. Division was looming and I was trying to think how to make it more exciting for her.

By then, I already knew that the girl was great at drawing. She often wanted to draw something for me during my lessons and was always asking for my permission. And I was always saying “yes!” – because I believe that if I say “no” the child will feel unhappy. And an unhappy child learns not as efficiently as a happy child.

So, I was routinely saying “yes, sure” and “that’s great!” (this part was easy because the drawings were indeed great!). But deep inside I was always thinking how to steer her back to maths asap, and this was not so easy.

But this time, something unexpected happened.

We started talking about division, and she was just not getting it. No traditional methods worked. No Morrish Maths for Moreish Minds methods worked.

When I ran out of all ideas, I decided to explain division to her in a perfect mathematical way, as I would to my top class university student – utilising the maths concept of the “inverse”. I knew that deep inside she was great at maths! Just scared.

So, I switched to 5th gear.

We went back to subtraction because I knew she already knew how to subtract.

So, off I went.

I wrote:

2 + 4 = 6

6 – 4 = ?

But to my huge surprise the girl was blank.
“Off we go again…” I thought…

So, as usual, we chatted about subtraction again, but nothing worked.
The feeling was she forgot everything we ever learnt!
The girl just looked blank.

I was not upset because I knew she could do subtraction, but I was lost for what to think.

And then another (as I thought at the time) disaster: “Can I play the piano?” she asked.

Reluctantly, but as always, with a smile, I said “yes, sure”.

And then … it felt like a miracle!
Have a look at the video ‘The power of saying “Yes”  to a child‘ (24 seconds):

🎤 No, dear parents and teachers.

NEVER.

Never say “no” to kids automatically!

Because happy kids learn better than unhappy kids.

And “Thank you for the music 🎤🎼🎶!”

I will never forget that girl.

❓ Does your child lean rather to humanities or maths and science?

Let me know?

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🟪Once children develop the correct maths thinking, they grow to enjoy learning maths and start to see how to use it independently.

📢 Follow me #MorrishMaths on social media for tips and ideas on how to help your child with their maths learning.