Wednesday 30 March 2016

Preschoolers And Writing

Finley is off to school in September so I am feeling a bit of pressure to try and get him ready, but I don't want to be a pushy parent. I know his preschool will be doing all they can to get him school ready but I think if I do a little helping at home he will be really ready as I really don't want him to feel lost.

Finley has a tendency to get bored really quickly and lose interest in certain tasks. He will quite happily sit on the iPad and play games, educational ones most of the time I would like to add, but when it comes to colouring or writing, he will sit there for a few minutes then say he has finished.

Over the last couple of months I have been asking him if he would like to write his name in birthday cards. He is really interested in doing this so we get all set up, I write his name in large on a piece of paper so he can copy it and we sit down to do it. This is an activity that takes no more than 2 minutes but after a few seconds he can't be bothered and gets silly. He will write the F and the I and then just fluff the rest of them and say done. I know this shouldn't frustrate me as he is learning but it really does. And I also know he isn't going to pick things up straight away but I know he can do it when he really tries.

I have decided rather than getting him to write in cards, we will just practice his name on pieces of paper. This way if he gets silly about it, it won't matter. So I've written his name in large on a piece of paper and drawn two lines, which I have then photo copied. I have done them in both upper and lower case.

I was hoping that because this activity has less pressure on it that he will take a little more time to do it. And also as the pressure isn't on I won't get so frustrated when it doesn't go the right way. And this seems to have worked, just the other day he wrote his name in his magazine all by himself, proud mummy! And I truly believe that once the pressure is off he learns so much more, but at school there will be a little bit of pressure and that worries me.


The other thing is the holding of the pen/pencil. He holds it most of the time like you would if you had a spoon stirring soup. On the odd occasion I see him holding it properly so I know he can do it, but I don't know if it's just down to laziness or that he needs prompting. This is all new to me as Finley is my first child to be going to school so I have never gone through the whole going to school process and I don't know what stage he should be at.

Does anyone else's 4 year old that isn't at school find writing boring? I don't want to put too much pressure on him but I do want him to be ready. 

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My Random Musings

7 comments:

  1. Please don't worry yourself too much. My daughter was 4 years and 4 months old when she started school last September, so on the younger end. She could write her name in capitals when she started but getting her to do so was a bit hardwork. Once starting school she picked it up so quickly and is now already learning cursive handwriting after just 6 months of school! You will be amazed at how quickly they learn things when they start school, all you can do is too keep encouraging him at home! :)

    www.digitalmotherhood.com

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  2. It's hard to know as mine is only 2 but I reckon once he's at school and everyone is doing it..he will too! At home there is other fun stuff and he is doing it when he wants to. So he can!! Bet at school he's fine xx #binkylinky

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  3. Although my little girl is nowhere near 4, or being able to do much writing other than scribbling with a crayon, I do understand what you mean. Every time a new milestone is looming I have this feeling of wanting to push her to achieve without being "pushy" its a parent catch 22! You want them to learn but you don't want to push! #BinkyLinky

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  4. I wouldn't worry too much. All kids are different. R is a really good at writing her name, but she has a good level of concentration and she enjoys writing, drawing etc. M, on the hand, get bored and although can write her name, needs help to do so. He'll get there xx Thanks for linking up to the #BinkyLinky

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  5. As em said don't worry ruby was far in front of Maisie and is now very good Maisie I getting there but in her own time Thanks for linking to the #binkylinky

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  6. I wouldn't worry about it honey, he'll get it in time. Just keep encouraging him to do it, it's all you can do. LP is now 7 and has only just perfected his letter formation. Boys do tend to take longer at getting their writing sorted, for some reason they just don't enjoy it as much as girls. Or so that's what I've been told! He'll get there eventually and I think being in school and seeing other children doing it may encourage him to try a little harder. :)
    #binkylinky

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  7. As someone with no children I really can't offer anything useful here in whether all children find writing boring. I would try making it a game, see if that gets his attention a bit more
    Thanks for linking up to #AnythingGoes
    Debbie

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