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Original poster

Do I make Dd change her story?

29 replies

EagleOrIgel · 22/09/2021 15:04

DD has, for the first time this term, brought home her writing book. She has written a story in which people she knows feature.
Her teacher, named in full - owns the musical instrument which is the principal character, is very ill and the instrument is on a trip to find a magical flower to heal her.
Two class mates, first and surname, who are robbers who the instrument catches and hand over to the police.
The supply teacher from last year, who the instrument says hello to.
A pig, the same name as the girl who wrote a parallel story with her.

It doesn't sit right with me, but I don't know if it's something that children often do at this age (she's 9). Whilst the story is atrocious and unbelievable and there is very little punctuation, I don't want her to get into trouble for including these "characters". Should I make her change the names?

OP posts:
Batfinkwings · 22/09/2021 15:07

Are you actually worried about this?
It seems perfectly normal for a 9 year old and fine to me. I would probably just laugh and think nothing of it.

WeAllHaveWings · 22/09/2021 15:10

I would leave it.

TeenMinusTests · 22/09/2021 15:10

I would tell/advise her in future to make up names.

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9 year olds General education
Zarene · 22/09/2021 15:10

She won't get into trouble at all! It's totally fine.

Batfinkwings · 22/09/2021 15:11

Just realised my reply sounds snarky. I didn't mean it to.
It just seems a minor thing to worry about.

Original poster
EagleOrIgel · 22/09/2021 15:19
Blush

Yes, I'm glad to hear it's normal! I shall have a chat with her about making up names in future.

And we'll definitely be doing some work over half term. It's the first piece of writing they've sent home this year, and I can't believe how many mistakes there are. When we had parents evening the teacher said she was doing fine and there was nothing to be concerned about. She even managed to write "in" incorrectly Shock

OP posts:
FinallyFluid · 22/09/2021 15:22

It is her teachers job to sort that out. If it needs sorting, if it is done in the correct environment she will take it, coming from you it is criticism and TBQH overly controlling.

Plumtree391 · 22/09/2021 15:23

I would suggest she changes their names to fictional ones, maybe funny.

TeenMinusTests · 22/09/2021 15:24

Don't 'over mark'. Better to find the 5 most egregious or frequent mistakes and work on them, than fill the whole piece with red ink.
make sure you find things to praise.

(In English Language GCSE (miles off I know) you get more marks for use of language than you lose for poorer spelling, so better to use a better word spelled incorrectly, than play safe with a more simple word.)

Original poster
EagleOrIgel · 22/09/2021 15:25

coming from you it is criticism and TBQH overly controlling.

Point taken. The pig being named after one of the girls in the class bothers me the most.

OP posts:
Original poster
EagleOrIgel · 22/09/2021 15:27

Don't 'over mark'.
I'm not going to mark it! It's school work and is most definitely the teachers job. I'll get the DC to do some writing in the holidays and look at that with them.

OP posts:
LateDecemberBackInLowB12 · 22/09/2021 15:28

The pig being the same name as a girl in her class would bother me. I would make her change that.

The rest is fine.

I used an array of misspelled swearwords for a project at that age and got into massive trouble so it could always be a lot worse Grin

ComtesseDeSpair · 22/09/2021 15:31

I’m not usually a #BeKind proponent, but think this is probably one of those occasions where a conversation with DD about whether naming robbers and pigs after her classmates is a kind thing to do or whether it might hurt their feelings.

I’m over it now on an emotional level Grin but I still remember when I played the Angel Gabriel in the Year 2 nativity play and Daniel Osbourne and Gary Smart insisted on emphasising in the song sung when I came on the stage that Angel Gabriel was a HE! and feeling upset and embarrassed. Tiny things can seem like massive things to small kids.

NiceGerbil · 22/09/2021 15:35

I would get her to change them tbh it's a bit weird and pig is really no.

godmum56 · 22/09/2021 15:36

IMO Its a "how would you feel if it was you" thing. I think at 9 she should understand that suggesting, even in a story, that classmates are robbers and a pig is open to hurting people.

Wnikat · 22/09/2021 15:36

Sounds like a really inventive story, why are you so down on it? How old is she?

FinallyFluid · 22/09/2021 15:37

Ok, the more I think about the pig might need a review.

GeorgiaGirl52 · 22/09/2021 16:34

Have you never seen the books available that can be personalized with the names of the child, siblings, pets, their hometown, street name etc.? It makes the stoey so much more exciting for the child! You have a creative mind there - please don't stifle her.

PeonyTime · 22/09/2021 16:46

We've suggested to DS that he mixes peoples names up. So if his best friends are James Smith and John Brown, he could write a story about James Brown and John Smith.
We've also suggested he uses football friends rather than school friends...
I wouldnt change it. I would talk to her about how she'd feel if she found out someone in her class had named a robber after her (but the rest if the class are unlikely to see this story, yes?)

GreatPotato · 22/09/2021 16:49

I'd leave it and let the teacher who knows about these things deal with it.

Antinerak · 22/09/2021 17:12

9 year olds don't see 'pig' as an insult, the girl may even think it's a compliment to be included in the story, or just funny. The children named as robbers would also find it funny. They won't be offended and don't see robbers as criminals, they're just characters.

At 9 I wouldn't be expecting compound sentences and use of semi-colons. She's clearly so involved in the story that how she's writing isn't bothering her- that can be a good thing. Let her teachers mark her work according to what level she's at and don't put her down over it.

InnPain · 22/09/2021 17:14

If the teacher thinks DD should change the names of the characters she will put that across to her in the nicest way, so no, if I were you I wouldn’t get involved and also wouldn’t worry. Sounds like a great story to be honest.

Pix89 · 22/09/2021 17:23

As a primary teacher, it is not your job to worry about that. Smile Personally, I wouldn't change the names in her story. At her age it is about building writing stamina and a love of writing. The children will have had set criteria to follow and should be given feedback on that. You could go over some of the spellings and punctuation as a wee extra - getting her to read her story aloud would be really helpful to her, then you read it without the punctuation. You could then identify together where to correct punctuation marks go x

MrsPsmalls · 22/09/2021 17:33

DS once wrote an excellent story about an evil dog which he called Mrs teachers surname. Teacher said she wanted to put it on the wall but he had to rewrite it and change the name. He rewrote it and changed the name to Boobs. Teacher said she still wanted to put it on the wall but he had to change the name again. He rewrote it and called the dog Vomit. This was acceptable and up it went on the wall. Little git was so proud of that story.

Coyoacan · 22/09/2021 17:39

Sounds like a really inventive story, why are you so down on it?

Don't squash her confidence for the sake of a few spelling mistakes

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