• Talk about maths together. Find a puzzle or problem that involves maths and discuss it with your children. Many parents read books to children every night but never discuss maths with them. My friend used to put a maths puzzle in her son's lunchbox each day. He is now a mathematician.
• Encourage children to develop a flexible view of numbers. For example, think about adding two numbers such as 96 and 17 in your head. This may seem tricky, but if you break the 17 into 4 and 13 then the sum becomes 96 + 4 + 13, which for most people is much easier.
• Encourage children to think of themselves as great problem-solvers, and to see any maths problem as a puzzle they can solve through exploration and persistence.
• Last, but not least, if your child is not spending time in school working on diverse and varied mathematics, discussing ideas and problem solving, arrange to talk to your child's teacher or the school's maths co-ordinator and express your support for a problem-solving approach to maths.
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