Why has my child suddenly stopped practising times tables they were confident with before?

This is more common than it sounds. When a child moves into territory that feels uncertain, like the 6s, 7s or 8s, the contrast with their easier tables can feel unsettling enough to make them step back from all of it. It is usually a sign that they need a gentler on-ramp, not more drilling.

Is it normal for a child to know 2s, 5s and 10s perfectly but struggle badly with 6s, 7s and 8s?

Completely normal. The easier tables have obvious patterns that children can spot and rely on. The harder tables, especially 6, 7 and 8, require a different kind of memory and do not come with a built-in shortcut. Most children hit this wall at some point, and it does not mean they have a learning difficulty.

Should I force my child to move on even if they are not ready?

Forcing movement when a child is anxious tends to backfire. The brain under stress is genuinely less able to retain new information. A much better approach is to make the new content feel low-stakes and connected to things they already know, so they take small steps forward without the pressure that causes them to shut down.

How do I introduce the harder times tables without causing an argument?

Start every session with something they already own, so their brain feels competent before anything new appears. Then introduce the new table as a bridge from the old one rather than a fresh challenge. For example, "six is just five plus one more" gives them a handy anchor. Sitting beside them and having a go yourself helps too, because it removes the sense of being watched and judged.

Can games actually help a child get past this kind of avoidance?

Yes, genuinely. When the format feels like a game rather than a test, children are more willing to take risks and attempt things they are uncertain about. Multiplayer games are particularly effective because the competition is between peers, not between the child and a teacher or parent watching from above. That changes the emotional stakes significantly.

My child says they'll never learn the hard times tables. How do I respond to that?

That belief is worth taking seriously rather than dismissing. When a child says something like that, they are usually telling you about an experience of repeated failure rather than making an accurate prediction. Acknowledge it rather than argue with it: "I know they feel really hard right now. That's okay. We're not in a rush." Keeping the environment low-pressure is more powerful than reassurance alone.

At what point should I be worried that this is more than a confidence issue?

If the avoidance is accompanied by consistent distress, physical complaints before maths homework, or a firm belief that they are fundamentally bad at maths, it is worth exploring whether maths anxiety is playing a bigger role. You might also want to speak to their teacher or SENCO if the difficulty seems to go beyond the harder tables and affects number sense more broadly.

Stuck on 2s, 5s & 10s? How to Move On | Times Tables App

If your child has the 2s, 5s and 10s completely nailed but digs their heels in the moment you mention the 6s, 7s or 8s, they are not being lazy. They are protecting themselves. And once you understand that, the whole thing gets a lot easier to work with.

When I looked at what parents are searching for this week, the phrase "times tables tricks" kept coming up alongside more anxious searches like "signs of maths anxiety" and "how to help child with maths anxiety". What that tells me is that parents are not just looking for tips. They are looking for a way to understand what is actually going on in their child's head. And on Reddit, I keep seeing versions of the same story: a child who can rattle off their easy tables with confidence but shuts down completely the moment a harder table appears.

So let me explain what is usually happening, and then give you some practical things you can try at home.

Why the Easy Tables Feel Safe (and the Hard Ones Feel Like a Trap)

The 2s, 5s and 10s have something in common: they have an obvious, reliable pattern. Twos go up in twos. Fives end in 0 or 5. Tens just add a zero. Your child does not feel like they are guessing. They feel certain. And certainty feels safe.

The 6s, 7s and 8s have no obvious shortcut that a child can spot for themselves. That makes each answer feel like a gamble. And if your child has had any experience of being wrong in front of a teacher, a sibling or even you, they have already learned that being wrong feels terrible. So they stay where they feel competent. That is a sensible, self-protective instinct, not a character flaw.

From the parents we have spoken to at XTables Champions, this pattern comes up again and again. A child who seems confident and capable on the easy tables will genuinely freeze when faced with 7x8, not because they have not been taught it, but because their brain has quietly decided that moving into unfamiliar territory is risky.

The Worst Thing You Can Do (and Most of Us Have Done It)

The most common response I see parents describe is the one that feels most logical: gentle encouragement that slowly becomes mild pressure. "Come on, you know this. We did 7s last week. Just try."

Every time that happens, even with the kindest intention, the child absorbs one message: the stakes are high enough that a grown-up is worried. That is enough to put any anxious learner's working memory into lockdown.

Pressure and urgency are genuinely counterproductive here. Not because your child is fragile, but because the brain under stress physically cannot transfer information into long-term memory as effectively. That is not a parenting opinion, it is basic cognitive science. And it is the reason that a child can seem to know something at bedtime and have no trace of it by morning.

What Actually Works at Home

Here is what I would suggest, broken into steps that are genuinely achievable without turning every evening into a negotiation.

Start from what they already own. Before introducing the 6s, spend a few minutes letting them fly through the 2s, 5s and 10s. Not as a test, just as a warm-up. You want their brain to feel competent and calm before anything new appears. Think of it as getting into second gear before you try for fourth.

Introduce the new table as a story, not a test. Rather than saying "right, now we're doing the 6s", try connecting it to something they already know. Six is just five plus one more. So 6x7 is 5x7 (35) plus one more 7 (42). That gives them a bridge from safe ground to new ground. It does not feel like a leap into the unknown.

Take the scoring out of it. If your child is practising on any kind of app or game, check whether it is flashing up red screens or showing a countdown timer. Those things signal failure loudly and often. A child who is already nervous about the harder tables will interpret every red flash as confirmation that they were right to be worried. Remove that pressure where you can.

Play alongside them. This is the one parents underestimate most. When you sit down and say "I'll try too, let's see what we both get wrong", the whole dynamic shifts. Getting an answer wrong becomes normal, shared, even slightly funny. That is the environment in which a nervous learner starts to take small risks again.

As our founder Gal Darrash puts it: *"The moment a child feels like they're being watched and judged, they stop learning and start performing. Those are completely different brain states."*

The Multiplayer Angle (and Why It Matters More Than You'd Think)

One thing I have found genuinely interesting in the conversations we have had with parents is how different the dynamic is when a child is playing against peers rather than being tested by an adult. Something shifts. There is still competition, but it is lateral rather than vertical. Nobody is judging them from above. They are just playing.

Multiplayer maths games that use formats children already recognise from their gaming life sit in a different emotional category to worksheets or timer-based drills. A child who refuses to touch the 8s in a homework context will sometimes happily practise them if the stakes feel like a game rather than an assessment. That is not a trick. That is how motivation actually works.

XTables Champions is built around exactly this idea. The harder tables are introduced in a scaffolded way, with no punishment for a wrong answer and a format that feels like the games your child already chooses to play. It is specifically designed for children who have learned to associate maths with anxiety rather than with play.

What to Watch For

If your child's reluctance to move beyond the easy tables is accompanied by crying, refusing to start at all, complaints of stomach aches before maths homework, or a consistent belief that they are "just bad at maths", that is worth taking seriously. Those are signs that the avoidance has gone deeper than a simple confidence dip. In that case, the gentlest possible entry point is the right starting place, and a pressure-free tool can do a lot of the heavy lifting at home.

But if your child is simply dragging their feet, staying in their comfort zone and being a bit stubborn about it? That is normal. That is almost every child at some point. The goal is to make the harder tables feel less like a threat and more like somewhere they are allowed to be uncertain for a while.

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If any of this sounds familiar and you want to see how XTables Champions approaches the step from easy tables to harder ones, come and have a look at what we have built. There is no pressure to do anything, and you can get a proper sense of how it works for a child like yours. Visit xtableschampions.com and get in touch. We would love to hear about your child.