When teaching math at home, are you showing off?
Last night, our 6-year old was battling out my husband on the chess board again. Since my engineer husband is the chess-champion in our household, he is the designated teacher in chess. I don’t know about you, but I always get queasy when someone take my chess pieces. “Oh, no. I’ve failed to protect my citizens!” I’d murmur to myself.
Being a Chinese, however, I’ve understand the power of intention and appreciate valuable life lessons a game like chess can teach: strategizing, patience, warfare, planning, not to mention good sportsmanship. But last night, it wasn’t the 6-year-old who needed help, it was my husband. He was teaching chess alright, but more to himself than to our son. My husband was oblivious that he was gloating after each mistake or missed opportunity our son had made. (few long and high-pitched sentences from me fixed the problem).
That got me to wonder though: when you (yes, you who ignore your own tiredness and with intention) help your child through his math homework after dinner, are you showing off how much math you know? Or if you ever got challenged by ‘this is not how my teacher does it’, do you fight back with ‘you’re not grateful’? When you teach, do you take off your parent-hat and distance yourself enough to be a wise guru? Do you welcome your child’s mistakes? Do you listen twice and speak once? God knows we are all human. Yet, if you’re not putting your best foot forward and shading with an educator’s hat, are you really helping?
Come to think of it, surgeons don’t operate on their own, do they? “We have them draped and covered before I even go in,” a friend of mine who is a surgeon told me. “That way, I’m not operating on Mrs. Smith; I’m operating on a tumor.” If a tumor is worth that much consideration, shouldn’t your child’s confidence?
Think twice before you sit down and try to teach math at home. It’s not just another assignment needs to be turned in, it’s your child’s love of learning at hand.
Happy Zen Math!
(c) Feenix Pan, 2006. All rights reserved.