To expect 5yr old DS to be able to draw representational pictures?

[TheSeaTheSkyTheSeaTheSky]

Hi all,
I'm probably over reacting about this but it's one of a number of issues with DS1 which make me concerned - although hopefully the answer is simply that 'he's a boy'!
DS1 is a late August birthday so just gone into Yr 1 aged just 5. Many of his friends seem to be reading and writing relatively fluently, drawing clear pictures of recognisable things (police cars, guns, the usual boy stuff) and even writing captions to them. DS1 comes home telling me he can't remember what he's done at school, which to my mind suggests he's messing about and not paying attention. When we play with play dough he just makes a mess instead of actually making 'something' that represents something in the world around him. Today I asked him to draw a picture and he just did scribbles - when I asked him to draw me a house he basically couldn't do it without a lot of help and guidance. He's never been into drawing and colouring and now I'm wondering if i should be 'making' him do it as a kind of homework.
He can copy words and write quite nicely when there's a treat in it for him and his reading is OK but this thing about drawing and making things that look like something is really bothering me. Is it just a boy thing or something more worrying? And if it is just a boy thing when can I expect him to 'get it' and start paying more attention to what's going on around him?
So AIBU to expect him to be able to do this? Is this a sign of something I should be doing something about or am I just an over anxious pushy mother?

Sure he's only wee, kids learn different things at different paces. A kid that's good at drawing might be behind in something else etc

Get him a book of tracing paper and some pictures he is enthused about, be it dinosaurs, planes, a tv character, a boy kicking a ball, whatever he likes. Then sit down and show him how to trace something. Do it together often, date them, and then put it on display.

www.amazon.co.uk/Sharpener-Drawing-Tracing-Extra-Black-Pencils/dp/1580869696

That's how I taught ds2 to draw.
Also, is he ok with colouring books?

More tracing books

Thanks everyone for your help and reassurance. Tracing books is a great idea in particular and yes, I know I mustn't push something he doesn't enjoy as it'll only make it more of a chore. He has been able to ride a bike without stabilisers since he was 3 so perhaps I'll just think about that every time I worry about his drawing!
Incidentally I didn't intend the 'its a boy thing' comment to be taken to heart or to offend - and it was about the attention span and focus rather than drawing ability / opposable thumbs. It's just something that a lot of teachers - and friends with both boys and girls - have said, that girls on the whole seem to be able to focus and pay attention better at that age than boys. No need for the raised eyebrows, really. People do seem to be dying to take offence on here at the moment, don't they?
Many thanks for all the reassuring and constructive comments, my DS will benefit from your help, and so will I.

its not 'dying to take offence' to raise a feminist eyebrow at such socially-conditioned shit as 'he's just being a boy'
IME people who use terms such as 'dying to be offended' and 'professionally offended' are usually people who want to say ignorant/ ill-informed things and dont like being pulled up on it

MrDobalina I had a feeling I'd get flamed for that, but frankly i don't see how the fact that it is possible, and common, to make generalisations about young children's abilities and preferences based on their gender and how patterns of development often / usually play out for either gender has anything whatsoever to do with feminism. I am a staunch feminist and very proud to be so, and am very clear about that in the way that I live, speak and raise my two sons.

And after that, I'm off. Well done with your so-called feminist eyebrow, I genuinely sought help here and, largely, received it. I've been on MN for years under different names but am sick to death of this recent need for people to start arguments, take offence or find fault when it's not doing anyone any good.
Those of you who raised eyebrows and found yourselves do very offended by my tongue-in-cheek and knowingly-used generalisation really ought to remember that many threads are about people needing help. If you can't help, why bother posting? You've ruined what was actually a very helpful thread for me and who knows possibly others. Hope you are proud of yourself. Bye.

I cant draw for toffee - DD who is 3.11 can draw better than me

he rides a bike and reads and writes at age five.

dont worry about drawing !

if you are worried speak to his teacher - if they have concerns they will tell you.

Honestly?

Don't worry about drawing.

Ds is late august born and just 6 and he's pretty terrible at drawing.

But then so am I. We often fall about laughing at the state of our pictures. Mine are marginally better than his....

Mine is also an August child - he is 11 now and still useless at drawing. He is also useless at modelling although pretty good with lego. However, he has reading age and spelling age of 15+ and is exellent at maths and has way above average CAT scores.

He definitely could not draw anything recognisable when he was 5 - and he is also colour blind. Worryingly, he wants to be an architect ...

I would not worry at all - keep on with the writing practice and forget about the drawing. Even in Year 6 I used to do the colouring for my son whilst he read a book as it took him forever and I could not see quite what he was learning from it and preferred him to do something more constructive.

Ooh, that was a big flouncy flounce. Dramatic, but rather teenage. 6 out of 10.

Whatyou

pot kettle. Let it lie

My ds could hardly hold a pencil at start of year one and didn't want to either. We had an aqua draw mat that hung on the wall. He liked this much more and didn't really see it as drawing or writing. I work with OTs and they suggested it might be easier to write on a white board type thing, also you don't have to press as hard. Still not interested in writing now but I suppose this got him started.

pot kettle? I never flounced in my life, wouldn't suit me. I was just a bit shocked by OP's attitude on a thread chock full of nice advice and helpful posters being altogether lovely. Just because she was called on one remark.

pot kettle because you accused the OP of immaturity and yet taunted you her. That sounded childish to me.

Yes, I agree that gender stereotypes need challenging

get a grip OP

I think I made a fair comment, but whatever you're having yourself.

Bloody hell... what is this?

My point exactly, Jazzy. It wasn't a flounce, (although thanks for the 6 out of ten, whoever that was) just really can't be arsed to get involved in a slanging match with people over something that isn't worth arguing over. You know damn well I'm not going around saying 'boys can't draw, have no opposable thumbs and are therefore shit', it was just one simple tongue in cheek remark.

Thanks everyone who has been lovely and given such nice reassuring replies on here, what a shame some people just can't let it go and have to get their little digs in. You carry on with your digs, ladies, if it makes you feel big and clever. I'm off to play with my sons.

"I'm off, blah blah, mean bitches, Bye" is a flounce. But ok.

I have no wish to get involved in any rows, but I will say wrt the whole " girls on the whole seem to be able to focus and pay attention better at that age than boys", that I have never actually noticed that to be true.

I really, honestly can say that is not my experience.
I don't know all the boys in the world, but the ones and have known (including my numerous brothers and male cousins) have seemed to focus very intently on things that interest them from around 3 or 4.

My brothers would spend hours intently concentrating on, among other obsessions, lego buildings, chemistry sets, sewing, baking, and learning to recite the internal working of a car engine.

I think that when boys are focused, and enjoy things like quietly drawing in a corner, it is somehow overlooked, and treated as the exception.

In the same way that girls who do actually run around yelling are treated like the exception.

I read that the bones in boys' hands fuse somewhat later than in girl hands, or something like that in the Raising Boys book, so boy vs. girl could be quite relevant difference wrt fine motor skills. Also, boys have poorer concentration (on average).

Academic study saying kinda similar.

Fair enough, it was a flounce. My very first . Can we let it drop now please?

Haven't read the whole thread, but just to say, my 5 yr old can't or won't draw anything!!!! He just scribbles!