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.

It never occurred to me that parents might do messy writing though. That would just be bizarre.

Mine did, he absolutely insisted. Took him about 2 hours by which time I had lost the will to live sounding out 30 kids names. On the plus side he now knows how to spell 'from' off by heart .

Thank you Dolls. He gets very frustrated when he thinks he can't do something so he avoids it.

I believe that he's just not ready. He is smart and very curious but lacks the fine motor skills.

My DS did his last year in reception and again this year (Y1).
He writes To XXX love YYY , I write the envelopes.
We do 2/3 a go and space it out.
The main issue isn't him getting bored but me puzzling over all the interestingly spelt names in his year.

Mine did all hers, took about 40 mins. I wrote the envelopes.

DD2 would have written hers.
I would have done DD1's

DD2's writing has been tidied than mine since she was six

Am I the only mother of a reception child who didn't provide cards to the whole class?

Mine did because she wanted to. I told her the letters in phonics and she wrote them. Granted they were sloppy and ill formed after the first ten but she was so proud.

PS. Our cards already had the Merry Christmas written inside.

Absolutely normal, ds had to write what he finds difficult when he started in year 1, and he said writing.

One tip (you may have done this) is laminated paper with alphabet and a whiteboard pen, they can then trace the letters and wipe clean.

Also a smart new pencil case with pencil sharpener and rubber, and a paper pad, in a favourite character. Left to write in his own time with no pressure.

My DS2 (who will be 5 in March) didn't do any. He can't write his name at all yet. Instead DS1 (who was 6 in August) wrote them all for him - he still finds writing hard so was good practice.

Don't be despondent OP, you need to remember that only on mumsnet are most reception children free readers, fluent in French and grade 7 on the cello

Why on earth do they have to write one for everyone in their class?

Dd is a bit older but I just gave her a box of cards and she got on with it. Some to her friends in her class and some to dc in other years.

No gonegirlgone you're not. My son only got 5 cards out of a class of 30

ds just signed them on the morning of his last day of term

DD is five and she wrote "to Name from Name". I did the envelopes.
We did two or three a night though to keep it easy. There is no way she could sit and do thirty in one go.

Gone girl children love receiving cards, I wouldn't like to see it turn into a popularity contest who gets the most cards.

Plus ds wanted to send to whole class.

Good suggestion Dolls I'll try that.

My DD is five in April and could have written them if I wanted her to. But I didn't. Work full time and have precious little time in the evening so it was something that wasn't going to happen. I did notice that she seemed to get cards from nearly everyone in the class though!

Sorry Folls, I didn't mean we decided to pick and choose who we gave cards to in the class. We simply didn't give any!

Piddlepuddle

(I wanted her to do it because writing is her weak spot and it was good practice. It was something I could motivate her to do quite easily as she is excited about Christmas. We didn't get thirty back and I didn't expect to.)

Mine did but it took a while too.

Definitely don't expect one from every child in class - not all the children celebrate Christmas anyway...
ds1 and ds2 both wrote their own cards in reception, but both took two or three days to get them done.
This year it was lovely - they both wrote a list of everyone in their class and were very keen to send cards. They wrote great long messages in the cards they sent to family we won't see over Christmas. Not a chore at all (but they are now years 2 and 4). Basically it has got more fun and less hassle every year.
Dd's contribution was the glue on the home-made cards (only for family not the 60 for school!). Lots and lots of glue. She has also drawn kisses in the cards, but as she has only just turned 3 they are rather drunken-looking kisses.

DD did her 16 cards yesterday took about an hour. She did "to x love from y" inside then name on envelope plus random illustration. So it's definitely doable.

I should add that DS's class did a topic on post and letters and post offices this half term, and he was desperate to send cards, as were most of his class - couple of months ago, he wouldn't have been interested at all. He probably won't be interested next year now!

Ah I see, cards do seem pointless, I've given up sending any to adults for them all to end up in the bin in the new year.

The kids do live getting them though. I may actually keep ds cards this year in his keepsake box.