How do Chinese parental attitudes influence children's numeracy interests? What matters is home numeracy activities, not extracurricular participation

Abstract

Early numeracy interests are important for mathematic development. To cultivate children's numeracy, it is common for Chinese parents to enroll their children in math-based organized extracurricular activities (ECAs) before schooling, as well as engage in numeracy activities at home with children. However, the extent to which extracurricular participation and home numeracy activities matter for developing young children's numeracy interests remains unclear. This study recruited 119 kindergarten children between the ages of 38 and 79 months alongside their caregivers. The demographics of participants, parental attitudes, parental practices, and online organized extracurricular activities were collected via questionnaires. The mediation model showed that parental attitudes are associated with home numeracy activities, math-based organized extracurricular activities and children's numeracy interests. Interestingly, home numeracy activities mediated the relationships of parental attitudes toward learning with children's numeracy interests, but online organized extracurricular activities did not. The findings suggest that parents should not exclusively rely on online organized extracurricular activities to cultivate their children's numeracy interests. Instead, engaging in home numeracy activities is specifically important for kindergarten children's numeracy interests.