At-home practice with parents can help kids take to math

A parent's fear of math can rub off on their kids.

And it can have a negative effect on a child's performance.

But researchers have found a simple way parents can use family activities to counteract that and boost a child's math confidence.

Adults use math skills every day.

About 30 percent of employees use algebra, for example, at least once a week as part of their job.

But as the need for advanced math skills in high-demand STEM jobs grows, deep-rooted math anxiety may be holding them back.

That's why it's key that parents turn it around, early on.

Researchers at the University of Chicago had a group of first graders participate in math "story time" with parents at home.

They found that the kids who did short numerical story problems significantly increased their math achievement throughout the school year compared to kids who only read at home.

This was especially true for kids whose parents were anxious about math.

In the study, parents used an app with first graders called Bedtime Math.

It's a free app. It's available in English and Spanish and it was the brainchild of a teacher.

The idea is to incorporate math problems into everyday stories so kids learn about math in a fun way.

Experts say parents can use everyday activities like grocery shopping, cooking dinner, setting the table and reading stories together as opportunities.

These small math interactions can go a long way toward building your child's math confidence.