Most likely you've heard the term "literacy" when talking about your child's education. However, you may not as often have heard about "numeracy". Both are essential skills which need to be developed in order to become a successful adult. Simply put, numeracy is the ability to reason and use math in everyday life.
Numeracy involves much more than knowing math facts. Numeracy is using math effectively in all aspects of life - at work, in practical everyday activities at home and beyond, as consumers, in managing our finances, as patients making sense of health information, as citizens understanding the world around us. It is as much about "thinking" as it is about computation. A strong sense of numeracy helps us solve problems and make good choices.
It means being able to:
- Interpret data, charts and diagrams
- Process information
- Solve problems
- Check answers
- Understand and explain solutions
- Make decisions based on logical thinking and reasoning.
Numeracy development begins long before your child steps into school. The everyday activities you do at home help with numeracy development. There are many things you can do as a parent to help build a strong sense of numeracy in your child. Families make a difference. It happens in the conversations you have, the games you play, and the things you give to your children. When you have a positive attitude toward math and numeracy, your child is more likely to also have one. When you model mathematical thinking and problem-solving, your child will be encouraged to take risks, create new solutions and problem solve.
Building early numeracy skills and a positive attitude toward math is just as important as reading to your child every day!
