How to excel in math, school: Math wizard Georgina Wilson shares tips

MANILA, Philippines — One look at Georgina Wilson and one can easily feel like life is so unfair!

Not only is she such as beauty, with genes like aunt Miss Universe 1969 Gloria Diaz to back her up. This Filipina-British model-entrepreneur is even a math genius - with an Economics degree from Ateneo de Manila University and a Bachelor of Commerce in Accounting degree and a double major in Finance from the University of Australia.

Hence, at the recent Promil “Gifted Together” media event recently in Taguig City where backdrop neon lights were screaming “Gifted,” no one can object that Georgina is the best ambassador for the brand rallying for such a word.

“I’m staunted. I guess it was hard to say, ‘yes, I was gifted’,” she said in an exclusive interview for Philstar.com's Lifestyle and Entertainment show "Slam Book."

Doctors Sean Deoni and Ryan Carvalho, who were flown in exclusively for the event, stressed at the discussion the importance of nurturing kids’ brains while they are still young.

According to Deoni, Associate Professor for Pediatrics and Diagnostic Imaging at Brown University, 90% of a kid’s brain development happens during the first five years of their lives. A big part of this development is the brain’s Myelination, a process by which information is being processed quickly for better understanding.

He cited that studies have shown, particularly the World’s First Pediatric Neuroimaging Study, that “an increase of +36% percent in myelin can lead to faster language development, together with proper nutrition and stimulation.” 

“The brain continues to develop as we grow older. But the brain’s development also has a trajectory that is often dictated by how it grows during our childhood, particularly from birth to five years of age. And studies have shown, particularly at the World’s First Pediatric Neuroimaging Study to help advance brain development, that processes during brain development, can enhance the brain’s functions. These processes—for instance, Myelination—can be supported by proper diet and nutrition,” Dr. Deoni said.

Carvalho, Chief Medical Officer & Global Head of Nutrition Product Development Center, said that brain development depends highly on two factors: time and nutrition. Docosahezaenic acid (DHA) in kid’s milk is known to be an essential nutrient that promotes health and development. DHA, with a kid’s regular healthy diet, is believed to help promote adequate brain development. But Carvalho said that with the additional health risks due to the pandemic — particularly how it has affected the kid’s dietary habits and exposure to health risks and stimulation—this may not be enough.

Carvalho said improving kid’s diet and nutrition can usurp these adverse effects and put brain development on the right track. For instance, he noted that studies have shown that DHA together with Milk Oligosaccharides (MOS+), which includes Sialic Acid, helps double up the development of memory, learning, and cognitive skills in kids.   

“With how our world has changed due to the pandemic, it’s important to pay closer attention to our kid’s diet. Kids are more susceptible to hindrances in their brain development. So parents should implement changes and improvements to their lifestyles and diets to prevent these roadblocks from affecting their kids in their growth,” Carvalho explained.

As a mom of three, Georgina believes that it really takes a village to raise kids, so she encourages her fellow parents and guardians to be proactive in nurturing children’s brain development and holistic growth. Here are some ways:

Be a lover of learning

“Our family loves learning. We never thought of it as something difficult,” shared Georgina, recalling how she and her dad, who is of British descent, would bond over books.

Likewise, she urged other parents wanting for their kids to excel in life to also walk the talk by joining parenting groups and reading articles on raising kids and taking educational classes.

As for math hacks, she follows some Instagrammers by searching “math techniques” on the social media platform and she found their tricks to be “very fascinating.”

Practice makes perfect

“It really needs a great deal of practicing to be great,” she said, and this applies not only in learning math or any subject, but in anything one wants to pursue in life.

Share what you know

Instead of being hesitant to teach what you know to others for fear that they might overtake you using the knowledge that you gave them, Georgina believed that teaching what you know to someone else is actually a great way to practice what you know.

“If I’m good at something better than somebody else… So my classmates at Assumption (College, where I went to in high school), I was their teacher for the maths because that’s where I excelled,” she shared. 

“I think if you can truly understand some things, you can teach it to someone else. 

Make learning fun

From an “it girl,” Georgina does not want to go further than being an “it mom” and become a stage-mother and pressure her kids to be overachievers.

“I never felt any pressure. I think what’s important for me is to not put any pressure,” she stressed.

Whether going on a mountain hike or just buying something from the grocery, Georgina’s way of enticing her kids to learn about the big world is by calling it “going on an adventure.”

“I tried to put them in directions that I know have worked for me… But I don’t believe in pressure. I don’t believe that putting pressure in your children makes a gifted child.”

When trying to teach her kids math, for example, and they don’t want to listen and just want to draw instead, Georgina would just let them because she believes in honing children’s multiple intelligences. 

“Both of them are great at drawing,” she said of her sons, Archie, 6, and Alfie, 3.

“They’re so amazing! I was never able to draw. There are some times na they wouldn’t learn so fast because they keep on drawing and stuff. Ako na lang ang mag-nenerd!” she quipped. — Photo by Georgina Wilson via Instagram; Video by Philstar.com/Anjilica Andaya

RELATED: Georgina Wilson to fellow 'mompreneurs': Learn to delegate, be efficient