Reading about unfamiliar mathematics always gives me empathy for my 7yo's struggles to remember and work with basic arithmetic notation. It's only obvious once

Reading about unfamiliar mathematics always gives me empathy for my 7yo's struggles to remember and work with basic arithmetic notation. It's only obvious once you've internalized it! Until then it's completely arbitrary and you constantly need to remind yourself what all the squiggles on the page really mean, which is hard when you're still trying to wrap your minds around the concepts themselves.