Do reception children REALLY write all Christmas cards

[Goldchilled7up]

I might be very unreasonable here and I'm prepared to be told so.

...but I find it hard to believe that a 4 or 5 year old child can write 30 Christmas cards, with all the children's names on both the card an envelop and also write merry Christmas on all of them

I wrote my son's cards to take to his classmates and it was hard work. He sat next to me and was excited about it. But there is no was he could physically do it. I wrote it with my own handwriting, not faking his.

I understand that he is one of the youngest and some children are almost a year older which can make a huge difference but still...

Am I being unreasonable to think that parents are writing the cards in a messy way to pretend it was their children? Maybe I'm worried and a little jealous that my child can't do it.

My dd who's 4 scrawled wrote her cards. Some bits she needed help with. We pre wrote what to write, and she copied it. It was only about 6 cards as she only started in October, so not many friends yet.

My son just signed his name, I did the rest. He did it in 30 mins max. His sister however wrote the lot at age 6 but it took her an hour with her day dreaming.

It took our year 1 about a week doing 3-4 a night as she wanted to draw on all the envelopes as well

I'm not lying or bragging, last year in reception ds wrote 29 over two days. It was hard work for him but he wanted to do it.

This year he did 29 over two days a s found it fairly easy. So it can be done.

He got some written by parents.

You will begin to see a massive difference in handwriting over the next couple of years so don't worry.

DS is in pre-school and just turned 4, he is obessed by writing so over a few days he did write the 19 cards with me just telling him the letters for his friends names.

All children are different though, DS will sit and write but refuses to draw anything!

I wrote the evelopes though so the staff had some chance of reading who it was for!

Your replies make sense thank you. He's my only child, so I don't have anyone to compare his development with.

I can see now if a child does it in stages and enjoys that type of thing it might be possible. I guess I just got a bit worried of him not being able to do it. He enjoys reading and spelling with magnets, but does not like writing at all, even his name. He doesn't like anything crafty, even colouring books, so that might be why.

He was 4 Gold. I think he did it over a few nights, but he was determined to do it himself. He didn't know how to spell all the names, so I wrote out a list for him to copy. He's 8 now - and he's a lot quicker at it these days

My dd is 4 (summer born) and wrote about 5 herself, I did the rest. She liked handing them out and receiving them.

My 4yo wrote the cards for her class of 30 (so 31 cards- 29 for pupils, one for teacher, one for TA). She wrote about four every day, but on weekends she wrote about seven, because she liked writing them and when she wrote them, it meant she had an excuse to draw pictures in the cards. It took 6 days, she did an extra one on the last day.

My dts's wrote To so and so, from miniminion, plus names on envelopes, 25 cards each in reception.

One ds did them all in one session (loves writing), other ds (hates writing) did his over a week doing a few a night.

Some can, some can't. We got a mix, probably 2/3 parent written and 1/3 from the child. Mine have written their own when they've sent them because I refuse to write out 30 cards! If they don't want to write cards out then we don't send them.

Mine just wrote cards to their friends even in reception

I got mine to stick to about 6.

A lot of reception kids just sign their name. Occasionally they write the whole thing

As mammatj that made me really smile

DD3 is 4.8 and she wrote 22 Christmas cards herself in one sitting. DH wrote the names on the envelope, but she wrote the child/teacher's name and her name plus xxx on each card. We wrote out the names on a piece of paper for her to copy or dictated the letter/sound, though.

DD1 is 8 and has MLD. For the first time she wrote all her cards. Through pure grit and determination she wrote them all, having to be told what to write, letter by letter. I was so proud.

DD wrote them all in a couple of hours she loved to write and draw from a young age.

DS1 barely wrote anything until he was in year 2. He is in year 5 now and he begrudgingly wrote out 20 cards over three nights but only from DS1 with a and the name and class on the envelope.

My girls both wanted to do this, although they didn't do them all in one night.

My 4yo wrote cards for all his nursery classmates. He signed each one '(DS's name) 4' and then put about a billion kisses all over the card too.

He got very cross when he was given cards that either lacked kisses, or the number 4, and I actually caught him correcting one card and putting it back in the envelope to return to his friend. We have had to explain several times that a) not everybody wants to fill cards with kisses, and b) his name doesn't actually contain the number 4, but I don't think he really understands...

My DS who is 6 and a half struggles to do cards. It's boring and repetitive and he can't get motivated at all. (Rather like me...not really fussed to send cards other than to elderly relatives who will really appreciate it).

So he didn't do any. He has done 5 cards for relatives. That'll do. It's the end of a long term and he's worn out. I'm not going to force the issue.

Gold hipped, really don't worry.

Ds couldn't even write his name when he started school, he came on loads, but still wasn't that interested in writing. That's why Xmas cards are so great because the children don't see it as hard work so much.

Ds has suddenly become obsessed with drawing and colouring now in year one, they change and find their own way.

So I am being unreasonable

DS did, he did a few every day for a week.