My Child Struggles With Certain Subjects: How to Reignite Their Memory

When Learning Gets Stuck: Understanding the Real Struggle

You're sitting at the kitchen table again, watching your child glare at their math worksheet like it's in an alien language. You've tried being patient, encouraging, even bribing with a special dessert—but nothing seems to click. It's not that your child is lazy or unwilling. It's that something seems blocked. They just can't seem to remember what they've already studied, especially in a few stubborn subjects like math, grammar, or history.

You're not alone. Many 6 to 12-year-olds experience these moments of academic friction, where certain topics trigger mental shutdowns. As parents, we're left wondering: how can I help my child retrieve what's already in their mind? How can I make it stick differently, more naturally, less painfully?

Why Some Subjects Feel Like Walls

Before rushing into solutions, it's worth stepping back to understand why this might be happening. Our brains don't treat all information equally. Some subjects are more abstract (like fractions), less emotionally engaging (like spelling rules), or require recalling steps in a certain order (like grammar conjugations). Add emotional stress, low confidence, or mental fatigue, and the memory—already delicate—gets cloudy.

We've written deeply about mental fatigue that blocks memory, and it's often one of the silent culprits in kids who start forgetting what they once knew.

Memory Needs Emotion, Repetition, and Imagination

The best way to help your child remember is not to review harder but to review differently. Our brains are wired to retain information that feels meaningful, uses mental images, or gets connected to a personal story. If your child has a hard time memorizing grammar rules, turn those rules into silly characters or relatable situations. If they're lost in geography, help them imagine going on an adventure in those countries rather than memorizing locations from a flat map.

One mother we spoke with recently said her 8-year-old couldn’t retain even basic multiplication facts—until they turned them into a detective game, where each number pairing was a "suspect" with a story to uncover. Suddenly, the facts stuck. What changed? Emotion and imagination.

If you're not sure how to spark that kind of engagement, explore our article about mental imagery as a powerful learning tool. It’s especially helpful for visual learners and children who get overwhelmed by textbook formats.

Make Memory Practice Feel Like Play

A huge breakthrough for many parents comes when they shift their approach from traditional review sessions to playful, low-pressure formats. Asking your child to recall information should not feel like testing but like play. Because when kids play, their brains relax—and ironically, they remember more.

For example, if your child is struggling with spelling, turn it into a game of word treasure hunts around the house. If they can't remember history facts, ask them to build a Lego scene from a historical event. Play is not the opposite of learning; it is often the path to real, durable learning. We explore this concept more fully in this article about mixing play and study.

Another parent favorite? Short memory-boosting activities you can do together, like storytelling games or recall challenges. If you're curious, we’ve listed several fun and effective memory-boosting activities here.

Leverage the Power of the Ear

Sometimes, the barrier to memory isn’t the subject but the format. If your child struggles to remember what they read, maybe their strength lies not in visual learning but auditory learning. Listening taps into a different memory channel—especially useful on car rides or during breakfast routines.

Some educational tools today can transform your child’s written school lessons—yes, the very ones they struggle with—into audio adventures or simple narrated versions, making memory retrieval more accessible. With the Skuli app (available on iOS and Android), for instance, you can snap a photo of a lesson and turn it into a customized 20-question quiz or reformat it as an engaging audio adventure where your child becomes the main character—using their first name. Suddenly, reviewing past material becomes personal, dynamic, and—dare we say—fun.

When Memory Feels Like a Wall, Change the Door

If your child is stuck, it may not mean they aren’t trying hard enough—it could mean the entry point just isn’t right for them. Try changing the format, playing with the material, or giving their brain a rest by switching up routines. It's okay to experiment. Your child’s brain is not broken—it just learns differently in different contexts. That's not only normal, it's human.

And if you're looking for more ways to strengthen auditory memory effortlessly, don't miss our list of educational podcasts that help kids memorize without stress.

So next time your child gets blocked, don’t feel defeated. Think of it as a signal—not of failure, but of a need for a new approach. One that taps into their imagination, their ears, their stories, and their joy. That's where real memory lives.