55 votes
Accepted

My son started kindergarten and doesn't like writing his name. How should I think about this?

First, I would ask him about why he doesn't like writing his name. Is it boring? Is it too hard? Is it too repetitive? Etc. Once you know why he doesn't like it, you can work on helping him, ...
Becuzz's user avatar
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34 votes

My son's handwriting is so poor that even he can't read it. How can I help him improve?

There are a lot of different things that might help, depending on the child, but ultimately what has to change is the child's choice to pay attention to details. I had pretty poor handwriting as a ...
Joe's user avatar
  • 62.7k
21 votes

My son's handwriting is so poor that even he can't read it. How can I help him improve?

If he's writing ‘joined-up’ (cursive), has he considered switching back to printing (writing each letter separately)? Printing has a reputation for being much slower and looking ‘childish’, but in my ...
gidds's user avatar
  • 313
18 votes

My son started kindergarten and doesn't like writing his name. How should I think about this?

If my son came back from school two days in a row telling me that he had to "write his name a lot", I'd ask him the following: How many times is "a lot"? Why did you have to write your name so much? ...
walen's user avatar
  • 894
15 votes

My son's handwriting is so poor that even he can't read it. How can I help him improve?

Some people have physical or neurological issues that make handwriting difficult, including hyper-mobile joints and dyspraxia. Telling these people that they just need to slow down and taking more ...
Paul Johnson's user avatar
  • 10.3k
14 votes

My son started kindergarten and doesn't like writing his name. How should I think about this?

A couple of things first: This is definitely not a boy thing It is not something you should be paranoid about There are many reasons that children dislike doing things like this. The main one is ...
Rory Alsop's user avatar
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10 votes
Accepted

How to further an aptitude toward early literacy?

This may not be the most scholarly article devoted to the subject, but it has been borne out again and again in well-developed studies: reading to your child id one of the most beneficial activities ...
anongoodnurse's user avatar
9 votes
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6 year old has habit of holding the pencil too tight and pressing too hard while writing

What works for us is large pencils. There are pencils that are about double or so the normal diameter of a pencil; they're easier for smaller children to hold and control, with less developed fine ...
Joe's user avatar
  • 62.7k
7 votes

What is an effective order to teach writing the alphabet?

You should keep in mind that children, especially very young children, learn best when directed by their own interests and their own individual abilities. A lot of what might be considered a best ...
Karl Bielefeldt's user avatar
6 votes
Accepted

What methods can be used to improve handwriting?

There are several activities involved in learning good handwriting. The first is simply hand-eye coordination. How well is your son able to color inside lines, tie his shoes, button shirts, etc? If he ...
user26397's user avatar
6 votes
Accepted

How to teach writing to a left-handed child?

As a left hander the biggest problems I had were: As your hand moves along it obscures the text you just wrote. You tend to smudge it. This is less of an issue for a pencil, but once you start using ...
Paul Johnson's user avatar
  • 10.3k
6 votes

How to further an aptitude toward early literacy?

I think anongoodnurse's answer is excellent, and I just want to supplement it by pointing to some research on ways to support early pre-reading skills. Most of the research on this topic is with ...
Rose Hartman's user avatar
  • 2,447
5 votes

My son started kindergarten and doesn't like writing his name. How should I think about this?

Would this not be a perfect opportunity to help him learn his very first lesson in, "well, sometimes we have to do things we don't like, but that's also part of life?" Life is going to be full of ...
David W's user avatar
  • 159
5 votes

Writing lessons for pre-KG child

I think you are spending too much time on this. I admire that you want your child to succeed, but there are many ways to encourage fine motor without doing the same tasks for an hour. Use tweezers ...
WRX's user avatar
  • 17.4k
5 votes
Accepted

Helping my four year old not mistake 'b' and 'd' (or 'p' and 'q')

I have some experience with literacy, and not much experience with writing. This advice is picked up from listening in on literacy teachers' strategy sessions. Here are my suggestions: Not to worry. ...
Kit Z. Fox's user avatar
  • 1,878
5 votes

My son started kindergarten and doesn't like writing his name. How should I think about this?

I also think this is not a boy thing and that it is nothing to worry about. Printing as this age is work. I also do not like signing my name and on some days, it just feels like they want you to do a ...
WRX's user avatar
  • 17.4k
5 votes

My son started kindergarten and doesn't like writing his name. How should I think about this?

Try a little psychology. Get him to do some artwork. He probably won't sign his name. Then "Wonder who drew this nice picture?" Then get him to put his name on it. Mail some pictures to Grandmas and ...
MaxW's user avatar
  • 574
5 votes

My son's handwriting is so poor that even he can't read it. How can I help him improve?

I have absolutely grotty handwriting. It hasn't gotten any better since I was a kid, and it probably never will get better. I can tell you why my handwriting is so lousy, and maybe that will give you ...
JRE's user avatar
  • 179
4 votes

My son started kindergarten and doesn't like writing his name. How should I think about this?

It is definitely a "boy thing". Contrary to other answers' claims, research results are well-known about early development of girls in many skills. One quote: "Once in school, girls are one to one-and-...
Ozgur Ozturk's user avatar
4 votes

How old should a child be to start creative writing?

When writing becomes automatic enough that they want to write their stories down. At your daughter's age, I was the same way - told lots of stories but refused to write them down. The reason was ...
Ettina Kitten's user avatar
4 votes

Should you teach your children to identify letters or write letters first?

I don't think there is a cut and dried answer to this; but my experience from a Montessori background is closer to write, but still not that either. The difficulty with learning to write them is that ...
Joe's user avatar
  • 62.7k
3 votes

Writing lessons for pre-KG child

First - an hour is way too long. 15 minutes or so is the most I expect of my soon to be four year old, but adjust based on her attention span. As far as teaching handwriting - it's not a bad thing ...
Joe's user avatar
  • 62.7k
3 votes

What methods can be used to improve handwriting?

In order to improve handwriting your son should learn how to relax his hand. I recommend following exercise: Place a A3 size paper on a door or a wall. Give him a pen a ask to draw something like ...
user24894's user avatar
3 votes

What methods can be used to improve handwriting?

OH I love this question! Dot to Dot puzzles: LINK Mazes: LINK Complete the picture puzzles: LINK Colouring is a great way to improve the skills necessary for writing. So are cutting, using ...
WRX's user avatar
  • 17.4k
3 votes

How to help 6 year old be self-confident about writing

Frame challenge here: how about teaching him to type? Both my son and I struggled with handwriting; we're both dyspraxic, although that wasn't understood when I was young. I'm also left handed, which ...
Paul Johnson's user avatar
  • 10.3k
2 votes

Helping my four year old not mistake 'b' and 'd' (or 'p' and 'q')

The trick my mother used was to draw a cute bumble bee on the palm of my left hand. Whenever I was confused, she would ask "Where is the bumble bee? Give him a 'hand hug'." A "hand hug" was closing ...
Calphool's user avatar
  • 352
2 votes

How to teach writing to a left-handed child?

My son is left handed and my wife right handed. Although I am left handed, most of the time my wife taught him as I was unavailable for a large part of the day. We just taught him how to hold the ...
Jay's user avatar
  • 271

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