I love math! Math is fun!
I am lucky I had teachers that understood how kids learn, so I learned to be successful. We all like to do things we are good at, and avoid things we suck at. I like to compare learning math with learning to ski. If you were to take a 3 year old and put them on skies...by the time they are 12 they will have mastered getting the boots on, getting on the lift, making snowplow turns, getting up when they fall, getting to the lodge, the sit down and slide if it's too steep, the stem cristy, parallel turns, jumps, bumps, cliffs...who knows??? That 12 year old will love skiing! On the other hand, if you take a 12 year old without those skills and drop him off at the top of the mountain...Not so fun.
I think the same thing goes for learning math. Each milestone should make sense and be fun to accomplish. That will make the next one easy and make sense. If you try to jump in in the middle... you will always feel lost and unsuccessful.
I don't believe in worksheets! I don't believe in memorizing! I don't believe there is anyone who is naturally bad at math.
I believe in fingers and calculators. I believe in hands on activities to discover the basic principles. I believe in bringing cookies to your teacher.