How Do Parents Foster Young Children's Math Skills?

Abstract

Identifying the factors that foster math learning during early childhood is crucial given strong associations between these early skills and later school success. Despite theoretical arguments that the home environment and parents’ practices could support children's math abilities, little research addresses this possibility, especially compared to the breadth of research addressing literacy practices in the home. In this article, we review the literature on how the home numeracy environment may relate to children's math skills and argue that more methodological rigor is needed in these measures. Specifically, we highlight potential alternative dimensions of parents’ math practices beyond the conventional distinction between formal and informal activities, and we discuss directions for investigation. We argue that improving measures of the home numeracy environment may help resolve the mixed pattern of findings in the literature and further support the development of math skills in early childhood.