Just had the mumsnet - starting primary school email - and REALLY

[BumptiousandBustly]

Hone her social skills. Take her with you to visit people, especially if they also have children. This will help show her what sharing means and encourage her to have conversations.

REALLY? I suppose the AIBU is: AIBU to think that it just might have occurred to most mums at some point, to visit other people who have children?

Well if you ask the Nursery and Reception teachers at my child's Primary they'll tell you to turn off the television/computer/put down your phones...and interact verbally with your child as much as possible.

Every year they report that the new intake have less and less verbal skills than the year before.

It's really quite worrying.

WarroaLiberty - ironically DS is ASD - so we have real social skills issues - maybe thats why it really got to me, the suggestion that if your child lacks social skills all you have to do is take them to someone house (or the implication that it must me my fault because I haven't tried that!)

When DD started school the letter suggested "Try giving them some fruit occasionally!"

as you can probably tell from my user name fruit does feature quite heavily in our diets!

I just got it too, a) DD started school last year and b) she has severe autism so it was a bit depressing?

I suppose it depends on how you interpret it but it doesn't read that way at all to me OP.

It's a simple suggestion on how to help kids socialise...though you're right, most people would have thought of that already.

Then again, they can hardly go with the "Log out of MN and start chatting to your kids"

FanjofortheMammaries - very depressing, really makes me feel, is that what the other mums will be thinking about DS and I?

I also think that if the parents have never taken the child on a play date, there is more going on than can be addressed by an email - so either way - no point in putting it in there.

I got this and DS1 was 5 in May and therefore started school a year ago

Warraliberty - - no probably not - but even something like, "if you have concerns about your child's socialization - have a chat with the teachers" - would be better wouldn't it?

Yeah I suppose so

But actually, from what the staff say at the school...a lot of parents don't have concerns even though their kids are often really difficult to understand.

Maybe they think because they can understand them, everyone else can? I don't know.

Hmmm... Do they advise how to tone down a child who has an opinion on everything; debates everything; and has no difficulty being understood? I pity the teachers at DD's new school.

Seriously, though, don't you find most of the advice a little bit glaringly obvious?

Or maybe WorraLiberty their speech isn't clear because S+L therapy is so hard to access and they won't even assess before 3. Ds will be starting preschool at almost 3 and I know his speech isn't clear, but the HV won't even consider a referral until he is 3. His vocab is huge, just not always understandable. He was correcting us in the car only last night when dd and I were discussing Darwin's House and he said 'you mean Childs (i.e. Charles) Darling's House'. He can tell you all sorts of historical facts, name lots of dinosaurs (and he has never watched Harry + the dinosaurs) but not speak clearly.

Also just to say the mumsnet newsletter was about social skills - not clearness of speach!

I find it worrying that a person who finds it worrying that children's verbal skills (allegedly) decrease year on year would even think to say or write "less and less verbal skills" ... surely it should be "fewer and fewer verbal skills".

I just got the preschool one and it is full of equally obvious advice.

But then, most emails from most parenting organizations are full of obvious advice.

You can always opt out of receiving them.