How To Improve Your Kindergartener’s Handwriting Skills – Writing For Neatness
Writing for neatness – Kindergarten and above
I have often had people ask me what I did to make my son write so neatly for a kindergartener. It all comes down to this – do you encourage neatness and writing s-l-o-w-l-y when getting your child to complete those pages of tracing (and freehand) letter practice? I noticed early in the school year, that his writing was horrible. It was at that time that I said to myself, “whoa, wait a minute, that really looks like chicken scratch! No way. We really have to do this right, otherwise what’s the point???”
If, when we first teach writing to our children, we do not encourage a child to exactly follow the form that is given on paper, to tell them to write slowly and do their absolute best, then just when are we going to do it? After they have already formed those little neural connections in the brain? Why train the brain to write bad letters when you can do it right the first time?
So here is exactly what I said, word for word. “Hey, wait a minute there. Let me see the paper that you are working on. Now, I want for you to take a look at their letters and then take a good look at yours. Do your letters look exactly like theirs?” He answered no. “Well then, we should re-do those letters that don’t look right. Right now, you are training your brain and your hand to write. And if you don’t practice making it look nice, then that won’t happen. Don’t you want your handwriting to look nice?” He answered yes. “Well then, do this part over (stop here and erase the worst of the letters) and this time, really take your time to make it look nice. You want to do you absolute best. Your handwriting says alot about who you are. Now, go ahead and try it again.”
When your child has finished their paper, have them point out to you what their favorite letters are on the paper. You can even have them circle those letters that they really like. I usually conclude a great handwriting session with, “now that is work you can be proud of!” That work gets posted immediately on the refrigerator, just like art! It should be shown off!
I believe after going through it all, that you have to teach children which of their work is their best. Teach them what to be proud of so they will know the difference!
It seems like all of a mom’s time before this age and stage is spent constantly telling our children that their work is: wonderful! That’s great! You did a good job! We do it for every little thing that they complete or do. I have totally done all of that. But at some point, we have to start telling our children that it is going to take some practice to get really good at something (like basketball, playing piano, riding a bike, swimming, standing on one foot, writing, math, spelling, etc., etc.). If we tell them that everything looks good, how are they to know the difference?
I was brought to all of this thinking by an old book that I read a long time ago. It was a book from the 1860’s that referring to teaching young ladies who were newly married how to sew for their home. The author said,
“I hope that when you were just learning to sew, as you were making clothes for your dolls out of the scraps that your mother gave you, that your mother carefully inspected all of your stiches. She surely would have pulled out any stiches that were incorrect and made you do them over until they were perfect. If she did not, then she has done you a disservice.”
I think that this passage is a huge indicator of the times. We seem to encourage quantity over quality these days. Imagine, if you only had to teach your child the 3 R’s, as they used to be called (’riting, reading, and ‘rithmetic), you would really focus in on every aspect and detail.
So what is a mom to do? Many of us work outside the home. Even if we don’t, we are left to care for all of the cooking, housework, and caring of all of the children by ourselves. Our children are asked to learn so many more subjects than they were 40 years ago. It is impossible to teach every single subject and skill in great detail.
I would say that a pretty good method is to selectively focus on certain things, subjects, or skills that really seem to demand careful attention in relation to the other things that you are teaching your children. I consider careful handwriting practice to be one of those selective focus items.
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