DD is 5 and this is her handwriting...

[SwingingCatsAround]

... It's shockingly bad.

She was 5 in December. Her reading is much higher level.

I'm not concerned about the mirror letter/spelling, but the construction if the letters.

We're trying to get her better, but she will resist writing at any opportunity, gets cross if we ask her to correct her grip.

She has strong fingers and good fine motor (sews with tapestry needles, can do buttons up etc) she plays with play doh, tongs, tweezers, loves squeezing anything and everything lolol

What else can we do? It won't magically get better will it?

She'll sort it in time on her own. Chill.

Pencils are so much bigger and heavier for kids. Motor skills take time.

Stop fretting and stressing her out. It's really not a big deal. Looks normal 5 yeah olds writing to me.

It is fine. You could gently encourage her to do the e the right ay aro7nd but letter reversal in very common in five and six year olds.

By whose standard, leave her be, she’s five.

This is brilliant about pencil grip - if she isn't using the "mature" grip yet, then just correcting her grip won't help - you can learn a lot by seeing what she's using currently, and therefore know what kinds of activities to offer her to help with hand strength.

www.occuplaytional.com/2023/10/11/pencil-grasp/

Don't worry - it is so early and she is doing brilliantly by putting letters together to make words! She'll get there with the clarity of the letters.

Btw I agree with others that she is only 5yo.

However, from experience, if she is learning to write letters the wrong away around , it will stick and teaching her later will be much harder.

As I said, dc1 had a very poor teacher. Many children from that class struggled with handwriting for a long time. One of them still has unreadable writing from that (albeit he had other issues too).

Behind what?

Doesn't mean anything right now.

Just play lots of fun writing games and keep encouraging.

Some education systems don't even start writing until 7+.

It’s a nice article @BertieBotts
There are also pens with a moulded shape that encourage the ‘appropriate’ finger position.

What does it matter if she's behind though? She's five. Not a 17 year old about to sit exams.

At 5 all that matters is her life is happy and full of fun.

your expectations and inability to praise positive is shockingly bad.
regardless of who you actual hold in comparison.

Of course it'll get better, she's five!

It's not magic, it's practice and physical development. Leave her to it at school and relax at home or you'll put her off for life.

its really not that bad and she’s only 5.
Get her a chalk board and some chalk board pens. (not chalk itself, too dusty and not precise enough)
Its been proven that writing improves hugely using these materials and we had great success with it during covid.. I’d encourage her to draw pictures and then Write about whats happening in the picture somewhere on the board. Don't worry about accuracy or neatness at first, let her just enjoy it.

However, from experience, if she is learning to write letters the wrong away around , it will stick and teaching her later will be much harder.
This is not correct, mirror writing is very common amongst young children and they grow out of it, unless there's an underlying reason, in which case you have to identify what that is and address that.

We were!

We went to parents evening and the teacher said she was behind her peers with writing and we had to help her do more...

Why would I make that up??

Her handwriting is fine? She’s 5.
As in… has gone from screaming newborn to writing that in 5 small years… she’s fine.
Her handwriting will improve at school.
At her age, if you want to encourage her, get her some colouring books, practice keeping in the lines etc.
Shes a tiny little girl, we forget how small 5 years old really is.

Yes, I'm not concerned about the mirror writing at all.

She does "know" but won't do it the correct way 🤷‍♀️

"Review" "cinema", she's 5!!
I think her writing is brilliant, what a little star.

I would query that with the school because her handwriting looks totally typical for a 5 year old. Were they definitely referring specifically to the act of handwriting, or is it possible they maybe referring to broader writing skills? Either way she is only 5 and if there's one thing we know about children that age it's that they all develop at very different paces.

Ok. I won't stress about it and keep on doing what we're doing with free writing, drawing, play doh, dot ton dot etc. 😊😊

Because teachers don't compare like that and they don't tell parents they 'have to' do more.

This just doesn't sound like something a properly trained teacher would say.

That's fine for 5 😊

Exactly, just enjoy her as she grows.

💗

I hope you’ve not given her any indication that she’s not doing well. She’s is spot on for her age.

Some teachers are arseholes.
There are arseholes in every profession.
My daughter had an arsehole for a teacher.
I also encountered an arsehole Policeman when my daughter was waving “hiya” to everyone on the bus (the Policeman was on the bus). My DD waved hiya at the Policeman and he said “she’s gonna be handful when she’s 15 if she’s this keen to speak to men she doesn’t know now”. She was 18 months old and in a pram at the time. I’ll never forget how disgusted I felt.

There are arseholes everywhere and if your DD’s teacher is making your DD feel inadequate already at 5, I’d say “okay thank you, I’m sure she’ll catch up, let’s just try and encourage her love of learning first” and don’t worry about it x

Teachers don't really do that OP. Maybe you interpreted what the teacher said as dd being behind, which plenty of posters, including early years teachers have told you is not really the case in their experience.

I've got 6 children and at 5 years old, all had similar handwriting to your dd.

Please go back to the teacher and ask why they think so and what "do more" means.