The unique role of father–child numeracy activities in number competence of very young Chinese children

Abstract

Based on a sample of 109 Hong Kong nursery children aged approximately 3 years and their parents, this study investigated how Chinese parents contributed to their very young children's mathematics achievement and disentangled mothers' and fathers' roles. Fathers and mothers were asked to independently report the frequencies of their own engagement in a range of numeracy activities with their children. Children were tested individually on their numeracy competencies. The results showed that fathers reported higher frequencies of engagement in number game activities than mothers. Further, fathers' reported use of real‐life applications to teach number knowledge was a significant predictor of their children's number knowledge above and beyond the child's age, gender, parental education, and family income. More importantly, this predictive relation was independent of mothers' effects. The findings highlight the importance of paternal involvement for very young Chinese children's number learning. Practical implications are discussed. Highlights This study examines mother‐child and father‐child numeracy activities in relation to Chinese young children's number knowledge. Fathers are involved in more number game activities with their children than were mothers. Fathers' use of real‐life applications to teach number knowledge is a significant predictor of their children's number knowledge.

Parent–child number application activities predict children’s math trajectories from preschool to primary school.

“…In some studies, higher frequencies of formal math activities predicted better performance in several math domains, including general numeracy skills (Kleemans, Peeters, Segers, & Verhoeven, 2012;LeFevre et al, 2010), symbolic number system knowledge (Skwarchuk et al, 2014), arithmetic word problems (Huang, Zhang, Liu, Yang, & Song, 2017), and arithmetic fluency (LeFevre et al, 2009). In other studies, however, no relation was found between formal activities and young children's math skills (e.g., Liu, Zhang, Song, & Yang, 2019). For instance, LeFevre et al (2009) found that neither number skills nor number books activities were related to children's math knowledge after controlling for demographic variables and home literacy activities.…”

Children's Competencies Development in the Home Learning Environment

“…In contrast, mothers' involvement in number skill activities was a positive correlate of children's abilities to solve written arithmetic problems and mathematical story problems, whereas father-child game activities and application activities were predictive of children's abilities in solving written arithmetic problems . Using a younger sample of 3-year-old children, Liu et al (2019), however, found that only fathers' involvement in number game activities, but not mothers' involvement in the four types of numeracy activities or fathers' involvement in the other three types of numeracy activities, made a unique contribution to children's number skills. It is currently difficult to explain why such results have emerged; however, it is interesting to consider the roles that different family members play in providing cognitive stimulation to children at home, and what characteristics might make them effective teachers in the home learning context.…”

“…In one of the aforementioned studies on 5-yearolds, for example, no significant differences were found between mothers and fathers in their frequency of engaging in number game activities . In a sample with young children (approximately 3-year-olds), mothers and fathers also reported a similar frequency of engaging children in number skill activities, number book activities, and application activities and fathers reported a higher level of engagement in number game activities (Liu et al, 2019).…”

Home Literacy and Numeracy Environments in Asia

“…In contrast, mothers' involvement in number skill activities was a positive correlate of children's abilities to solve written arithmetic problems and mathematical story problems, whereas father-child game activities and application activities were predictive of children's abilities in solving written arithmetic problems (Huang et al, 2017). Using a younger sample of 3-year-old children, Liu et al (2019), however, found that only fathers' involvement in number game activities, but not mothers' involvement in the four types of numeracy activities or fathers' involvement in the other three types of numeracy activities, made a unique contribution to children's number skills. It is currently difficult to explain why such results have emerged; however, it is interesting to consider the roles that different family members play in providing cognitive stimulation to children at home, and what characteristics might make them effective teachers in the home learning context.…”

“…In one of the aforementioned studies on 5-yearolds, for example, no significant differences were found between mothers and fathers in their frequency of engaging in number game activities (Huang et al, 2017). In a sample with young children (approximately 3-year-olds), mothers and fathers also reported a similar frequency of engaging children in number skill activities, number book activities, and application activities and fathers reported a higher level of engagement in number game activities (Liu et al, 2019).…”