I found out recently that my daughter is struggling with math.

Not just a little… enough for it to matter.

But what stayed with me wasn’t the math itself.

It was this…

👉 she didn’t really want me to teach her.

And honestly…

I understand.

She already has a math teacher in school.

And her mum… who is actually very good at teaching.

She used to tutor students who were really struggling…

and help them turn things around.

So maybe in her mind:

👉 “Mommy is the teacher… Daddy is not.”

Or even…

👉 “Daddy not as good as Mommy.”

And that’s okay.

I didn’t take it personally.

When I first asked to do math with her, she said:

👉 “50 minutes.”

That was the limit.

Not excitement.

Not curiosity.

Just… a boundary.

So I didn’t push.

I just sat with her.

And tried something different.

I brought sweets.

We started simple.

“2 groups of 3”

We placed the sweets.

She counted.

Then we drew it.

Then we wrote it.

Nothing complicated.

Just:

🍬 → ✏️ → 🔢 → ❓

Concrete → Visual → Abstract → Recall

At first…

she was just going along.

But slowly…

something shifted.

She started engaging.

She started responding.

She started enjoying it.

And before I realised…

time had passed.

The 50 minutes didn’t feel like 50 minutes anymore.

Then she said something that stayed with me.

👉 “Mommy usually teaches me for 2 hours…”

So I asked her:

👉 “When do you want the next lesson?”

She said:

👉 “How about tomorrow?”

That moment…

It made me pause.

Maybe it wasn’t about math.

Maybe it was about:

👉 how it felt to learn

I’m not here to replace her mum.

I don’t need to be the strict teacher.

Maybe my role is just different.

👉 to make it feel safe

👉 a little lighter

👉 maybe even a bit fun

Because sometimes…

kids don’t struggle because they can’t learn.

Sometimes…

👉 they just haven’t seen it clearly yet

And when they do…

something opens.

Honestly…

I didn’t expect this.

Not the teaching…

But the time.

The connection.

The moment.

Because in the end…

this isn’t really about multiplication tables.

It’s about:

👉 showing up

👉 building her confidence

👉 being part of her journey