I vividly remember watching my classmates turn their brains off (through no fault of their own!) in real time when math or reading or even biology classes started later on. And say stuff like “I can’t understand any of this”, “it isn’t even worth trying” etc.

This isn’t to invalidate anybody’s experience with dyscalculia or similar, or anybody that struggled for non-diagnosable reasons, but anything that builds up any subject as this unapproachable thing that you are predetermined to be good/bad at can rob a kid or adult of the opportunity to give it an honest attempt with a positive attitude.

My advice for parents or other role models is to say “I’ve forgotten how to do this” or “they didn’t teach it like this when I was little” or even “i used to struggle with x subject” instead of saying “I am bad at/can’t do x subject”. It’s a subtle difference, but for kids, it’s not that they can’t do it, they just haven’t gotten it yet.