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Children and Everyday Math (Part 2) |
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I never thought I would be grateful for Libby Lu (You know the totally materialistic and overpriced make up store for children). Today in the mail there was a Libby Lu catalog complete with an enclosed Christmas wish list for the children to fill out and give to their parents. Anyway there was a 25% coupon enclosed. My child asked how much an item would cost with the coupon. She thought she could just subtract $25. I told her it did not work that way and went on to discuss percentages.
This conversation was much more difficult than I ever would have imagined initially. Explaining percentages to a child proved very challenging for me. You know the concept in your head but it can be hard to convey to a young child. At least the 25% coupon made it a little easier compared to a 15% coupon. I managed to explain how much she would save but this is not what she wanted to know. She obviously wanted to know how much it would cost which would take another step (subtracting the savings from the original price). I then unwisely tried to explain that the item, whichever one it was, would cost 75% of the price. It wasn’t long before the tears of frustration started to fall.
I told her it was OK and that she did not have to fully understand it now. It was a great learning experience and introduction into percentages. After we did some other homework she asked me to try and explain it again and to go much slower on the calculator. I did and she finally grasped most of it.
So thank you Libby Lu for presenting me with an opportunity to introduce my child to percentages. I would be very grateful if next time you would send a 75% off coupon.
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