At the end of January, I set myself a goal - to move more. Vague, I know, but I knew what I meant by ‘more’.

This wasn’t about carving out an hour or reinventing my whole routine. It started with ten minutes. Ten minutes on the treadmill, once a day.

Ten minutes. Not hard, right?

Except I’ve tried to “move more” before, and the effort fizzled out every time. So, I knew something had to shift - not the goal, but the way I approached it.

In the past, I’d write down how far I’d gone and at what speed on the old‑school calendar on my fridge, thinking the numbers would motivate me.

Not this year.

This year I’m writing down the excuse I’m making when I don’t.

And here’s the surprising part: now, two months in, I’ve only written down 13 excuses.

Three from that first month - all completely out of my control. (One of them being the Valentine’s Day spent in a medical centre and then the ED at John Hunter Hospital while they prepped my partner for emergency orthopaedic surgery - a fair excuse.)

And the other ten?

Bronchitis. Just when I was feeling so good ... but when even breathing felt like work, ten minutes felt like a marathon, so I had to pause and wait until I recovered.

But even with all that, here’s what this approach has done - especially in those early days. It forced me to keep moving. On the days I didn’t want to. On the days I thought I didn’t have time. On the days when everything else felt more important.

Because I did not want to look at a bloody excuse on the fridge.

I would’ve been so mad at myself if I’d had to write one down.

And that’s the thing about small shifts - they don’t look like much at first, but they change everything.

Which brings me to you.

I know how busy parents are, and this exact approach may not work for you. But imagine, just for a moment, if you had to write down the reason for not taking 5–10 minutes once a week - simply to help yourself understand how to support your child’s maths journey.

Because that’s all it would take.

5–10 minutes.

And the benefits for your child - the confidence, the clarity, the way it mirrors what they’re doing in the classroom - enormous.

If you’ve been sitting on the fence, wondering whether you have the time or the headspace… this is your sign that you don’t need either. You just need a starting point. MathsBites gives you that - simple, supportive guidance that makes everything feel clearer.

Your future self (and your child) will be so glad you said yes.

Because these little moments - the five minutes here, the ten minutes there - they add up. They build confidence. They build connection. They build a home where maths feels less like a battle and more like a shared language.

And just like my ten‑minute treadmill experiment, you might not notice the shift at first. But one day you’ll look back and realise you’ve created something steady, supportive, and strong.

A small step. A tiny moment of intention. That’s all it takes to begin.