“I’m just not a maths person.” It’s something parents hear, and something many of us remember saying ourselves. But maths anxiety is not a personality trait or a fixed ability. It is a very real emotional response that can be identified, understood, and significantly reduced with the right support.
What is maths anxiety? It is a feeling of tension, apprehension, or fear that arises when a child is faced with maths problems. It can affect students of any ability level, including high achievers, and it often has nothing to do with how intelligent a child is. The anxiety itself interferes with working memory, making it genuinely harder to think clearly in the moment.
Where does it come from? Often, it begins with a negative experience: a teacher’s off-hand comment, repeated low marks, feeling singled out in class, or being asked to answer a question they weren’t ready for. Over time, avoidance becomes the coping strategy, and avoidance means less practice, which means the gap widens, which deepens the anxiety. It becomes a cycle.
How can parents help? First, watch your language at home. Saying “I was never good at maths either”, however well-intentioned, sends a powerful message that maths ability is inherited and fixed. Research shows that a growth mindset, the belief that ability improves with effort, genuinely changes outcomes. Praise effort and persistence over results.
Second, make maths low-stakes at home. Cook together and talk about measurements. Discuss money, discounts, and percentages when shopping. Play number games. The more maths feels like a normal part of life rather than a high-stakes performance, the lower the anxiety.
Third, seek early support. Maths anxiety rarely resolves itself. A patient, encouraging tutor who can identify and fill specific gaps, without the pressure of a classroom, can transform a child’s confidence in a relatively short time.
Your child can become a maths person. They just need the right environment and the right support to get there.