I Used My Fingers Under the Desk in College (And Why That Matters for Your Child)

I have a confession to make.

I was an honor student. I got good grades. People thought I was “smart.”

And I counted on my fingers under the desk.

Not in elementary school. Not just in middle school.

In. College.

I'd gotten really good at being discreet about it — keeping my hands below desk level, or tapping my eraser quietly in a way that helped me count without anyone noticing.

It's kind of funny now, looking back.

But at the time I was careful. Because how could I be “good at math” and still need to count on my fingers for simple addition?

You're Not Alone

After I started being open about this, you know what happened?

People started confessing to me.

“I use my fingers too! I just got good at hiding it.”

“I use my TOES. I have to take my shoes off sometimes.”

“I'm 45 years old and I still can't add without fingers. Is that normal?”

We can laugh about it. But here's the thing — it's not really funny.

It's not because these people are “bad at math” or “not smart enough.”

The Crutch That Never Goes Away

When you teach a child to add using fingers, here's what happens:

• Step 1: They use fingers to figure out 5 + 3. Makes sense! It's concrete. It's visual.
• Step 2: You assume that as they practice, they'll naturally move past the fingers to mental math.
• Step 3: They don't. The finger-counting becomes more discreet, but it never goes away.
• Step 4: Five years later, they're still counting on fingers — they've just gotten better at hiding it.

I was that kid. And then I became that adult. And I'm far from alone.

The “Deer in the Headlights” Moment

Have you ever had someone ask you a simple “How many is that?” question — and because you're without paper or privacy, you get that “deer in the headlights” feeling?

Your mind goes blank. You can feel everyone waiting.

You KNOW you should be able to figure this out. But your brain won't cooperate without your fingers, and you can't use your fingers because people are watching.

So you guess. Or you stall. Or you say “I'm not good at math” and laugh it off.

Because you KNOW you're smart. You KNOW this shouldn't be this hard.

But the method you were taught has made you dependent on external crutches.

It's the Method, Not the Kid

Traditional math teaching gives kids EXTERNAL crutches:

• Fingers to count
• Beads to manipulate
• Dots to draw
• Songs to sing

And these crutches FEEL helpful at first! They make early math accessible. Kids can see it, touch it, count it.

But here's the problem: those crutches become permanent.

The child's brain learns to DEPEND on external tools instead of developing INTERNAL mental processes.

It's like teaching someone to walk on crutches and then being surprised they can't walk without them.

What About Your Child?

Right now, you might be thinking about your own child.

• Maybe they're 7 and they count on their fingers for everything.
• Maybe they're 10 and you've noticed they still can't add without finger-counting or skip-counting — and you're starting to worry.
• Maybe they're 13 and they're SO FRUSTRATED because math takes them three times longer than their friends, and you don't know how to help.

Let me tell you what I wish parents with math strugglers knew:

Practicing the wrong method more intensely just makes kids better at using crutches.

What you need is a method that builds INTERNAL mental processes from the very beginning.

Why MathHacked Is Different

Here's something interesting — finger-counting prevention wasn't even on my radar when I started developing MathHacked. I'd honestly forgotten I'd ever done it myself!

What I DID know was this: I'd discovered almost by accident that first graders could easily learn multiplication and division — and that when taught the right way, they loved it. Every single one of them.

That discovery led me to understand something important about HOW the brain learns math. And it turns out that the same principles that make multiplication click so naturally for young kids are the exact same principles that prevent finger-counting and skip-counting dependency.

So our method:

• Never uses fingers or skip-counting as counting tools
• Builds mental pattern recognition instead
• Strengthens the BRAIN as the primary tool
• Creates automatic recall, not figuring

“But My Child Is Already Using Fingers…”

This is the question I get all the time: “My child is 8/9/10 and has been counting on fingers for years. Is it too late?”

Here's my honest answer: No. But you need to make a deliberate switch.

If they're using fingers for addition and subtraction, I'd actually STOP that work temporarily and start fresh with multiplication — taught the MathHacked way.

I know that sounds radical. But here's why it works:

When they learn multiplication without external crutches — when their BRAIN becomes the tool — they develop new neural pathways. New ways of working with numbers.

Then, when you come back to addition and subtraction, they approach it differently. They've been trained in mental figuring. They're less likely to reach for their fingers.

The habit isn't instantly broken, but you've given them an alternative pathway. A way to work that doesn't require crutches.

What I Want for Your Child

I don't want your child to get to college still counting on fingers.

I don't want them to have that “deer in the headlights” panic when someone asks them a simple math question.

I don't want them to believe they're “bad at math” when they're actually just using a bad method.

What I WANT is for them to discover — early — that their BRAIN is capable of figuring. That they don't need external crutches. That they're actually quite brilliant at this.

And that's exactly what MathHacked does.

From day one, we position the brain as the hero. The tool. The source of answers.

Not fingers. Not beads. Not songs.

Their brain.

And when kids discover that? When they realize they can actually FIGURE things in their head?

It changes everything.