"… I spoke with Steve Perry, a contributor to CNN and MSNBC and the author of “Push Has Come to Shove: Getting Our Kids the Education They Deserve — Even if it Means Picking a Fight.” Perry also founded Capital Preparatory Magnet School in Hartford, Conn., a program for children in pre-kindergarten through 12th grade.
He laid out several common-sense ways to help kids and parents contend with mathematics fatigue. Here are his suggestions." …
I like the one about not mentioning your lack of ability in math, lesser grades et al. We should also have parents address reading issues. btw- remember arithmetic is not the same as mathematics. I still remember my son’s early grade school years difficulties with flash cards (I was the one doing the deed)- globally gifted kid who was an Honors math grad… Repetitive adding et al could be fatiguing.
My kid is a senior physics major at a top tech college. She is still lousy at those “math facts” that they were supposed to memorize (multiplication tables). She understands them perfectly. Just did not see the point of committing them to memory.
What is there to understand in multiplication table? You just memorize it and move on.
I am sure that your daughter knows it by heart. Please call her right now and ask her what 8 x 9 equals to.
LOL @CCDD14 !!! Happydad (working research scientist with a Ph.D. in Biochem from an Ivy institution) can remember all kinds of crazy formulas, but doesn’t remember the math facts. He literally counts them up every single time. When Happykid was in elementary school he used to practice the math facts with her. Both of them got through second grade addition and then promptly forgot their math facts. Happykid uses a calculator for any math she needs in life, and Happydad is back to adding on his fingers.
@CCDD14, she did not see the point of memorizing them. I guarantee you if I call and ask her that right now, she couldn’t tell me immediately. She’d count 'em up or check a calculator. She has never been a “people pleaser” like her older sister, and she knew she could always check on a calculator or count up if needed – so she blew 'em off. It doesn’t seem to hurt her. So far she has taken nine college math classes and done fine in them.
@intparent I once had to correct a McDonald’s cashier because the change given was incorrect (I think she had trouble using the PoS system). So those little math facts do come in handy sometimes 
As for the original article, I think it misses one important thing, the oft-asked question “what is this useful for?” or “when am I gonna use this?” I’ve seen it asked with regards to pretty much any subject from elementary arithmetic to category theory - a common example I’ve seen is in high school algebra, where students often have to do tedious polynomial factorization or long division. Several students I tutored, even though they might never use those skills again, also had no idea what they were even used for in the real world. I feel like that is also a major factor in this “math fatigue.”
Oh, my kid would probably be a complete failure as a McDonald’s cashier, honestly. She is a whiz in the Physics lab, but I seriously think she would struggle in that job.