Parenting expert Pamela Paul’s “No, Your Kid Shouldn’t Get a Gold Star for Reading” article in the NY Times Sunday Review explains how rewarding children for reading sends the messages that reading is a chore.
Same goes for math. Except that many fewer Americans see math as something that should, or even can, be fun.
The best way to encourage your children to enjoy reading is to enjoy reading. The best way to encourage your children to enjoy math is to enjoy math. Try KenKens, or Rush Hour, or Sudoku. As with any good book, it may take you a while to get interested, but once you start you may have trouble stopping. OK, yes this will make you smarter, but that is a small price to pay for giving your children the gift of loving math. 🙂
What about their math homework? Ask them about the challenges that they got right. (If they did not get any of them right, talk to their teacher and/or give them some challenges that they can get right.)