As a science professor, I hear this all of the time. Students. Friends. Parents. Colleagues in other academic areas. "I am bad at math". "I hate math". " Math is hard". "I took all of these math classes and have never used any of it". "I'm successful and I never use math".
Well, good for you.
But I will counter with this - here is a link to an article outlining the 10 highest paid jobs according to a 2016 article in Forbes.
http://www3.forbes.com/business/the-highest-and-lowest-paying-college-majors/5/
The lowest paying of these 10 high paying majors has a median pay of $87,000 (okay, if you are math phobic you might not know what median is. Middle. If you lined up everyone with major from the lowest paid to the highest paid, it would be the person in the middle).
Here are those majors:
Petroleum Engineering ($136,000/year)
Pharmaceutical Sciences and Administration
Metallurgical Engineering
Mining and Mining Engineering (yay)
Chemical Engineering
Electrical Engineering
Aerospace Engineering
Mechanical Engineering
Computer Engineering
Geological and Geophysical Engineering (yay again!) ($87,000/year)
So, when little Susie or little Johnnie comes home and tells you how hard their math is, do you really want to tell them that it's useless, or too hard for them, or that they don't need it? When they go off to college, do you really want your voice in their head telling them they can't do math as they write off the top paying careers before they even give them a shot? Well, that's what a lot of you are doing. I know, because I get to undo the damage when they get to college.
Every year I have a number of students who come up to me after my Introductory Geology course and are interested in pursuing it (you know, that course that is required for 3 of these 10 majors). The minute they hear that 3 calculus courses are required I see the defeat in their eyes followed by a statement along the lines of "I'm terrible at math", "I can't do math", "My whole family is bad at math". I hear the last one too often. Only after some serious advising am I able to convince some of them to give it a chance, but more often than not they give up before they start and head to the Education or Business College. Here's a plug for my area of study - not only does it lead to a great job, students enjoy our major the most while they are in school.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/trevornace/2015/12/18/geology-students-happiest-college-campus-study/#3ac2020b717a
And yet, I cannot recall a single one of the students that I was able to convince to give geology a shot that gave up because the math was too hard. Once they started, they did just fine. Sure, college math requires work. I tell my students that math in college is no different than brushing your teeth - you have to do it every day. Weekends. Days when you don't have class. Weekends. Holidays.
Math is something you just do as a scientist. You get used to working through problems. Trying different approaches. Failing. Trying again. Failing. Trying again. Succeeding. Moving on to another problem. Most college students are capable of doing just fine in a calculus course. There's nothing magic to it. It just takes staying with it. Finding a tutor, or a better teacher, or just spending more time on it. It shouldn't hold anyone back who has an interest.
So, when your kids are 18, whose voice do you want speaking in their ear? The parent who will defeat them before they start, or the one who tells them to work hard and go for it? Either way, it's you, and they will remember you for it.
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