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Original poster

Do reception children REALLY write all Christmas cards

149 replies

Goldchilled7up · 20/12/2013 18:51

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 Shock

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.

OP posts:
NoSquirrels · 20/12/2013 23:08

This thread makes me scared. We didn't do any - it didn't occur to me or to DC, it seems!

fairylightsatchristmas · 20/12/2013 23:10

wirecat what is global delay?

lougle · 20/12/2013 23:21

wirecat, my dd with global deployment delay managed to write her name in year 1, which considering it has two 'I's, two 'l's and two other letters is not the hardest name to write! She still writes it with capitals in the middle of her name and massive writing that veers across the page, in year 3, but I Ann insanely proud of her. she has weak fingers, ar terrible pen grip and moderate learning difficulties but she gives her all to it.

Slippersandacuppa · 20/12/2013 23:25

We decided not to this year. DS1, yr 2, would happily have sat and written them all. DS2, reception, would have written his name on all of them but, after discussing it with them, we came up with a new plan. They each wrote one card for the whole class. We put a leaflet in about a charity that we had donated to instead of buying cards (we bought equipment for a small village in Africa) and they took chocolate coins in for each child. They were so happy when we picked them up after school as they'd had to stand up and talk about what the money was going to be used for - and they got to hand the chocolate out too. Think we'll do the same again next year. They understood the whole point about giving (and not wasting trees!) and still wrote a nice message to their friends.

LiegeAndLief · 20/12/2013 23:31

Dd wrote all of hers. At this stage in reception ds couldn't really write his name, no way would he have done it 30 times. All kids are different...

DeWe · 20/12/2013 23:32

Depends on the child.
Dd1 was desperate to do everyone at preschool the first year she went (about 40-50 people). By the end her handwriting was fantastic. She never considered someone else doing it and would have been cross at the thought.
Dd2 wrote them from same age or year above, but I did the envelopes until she was reception.
Ds is year 2 and this is the first year he's done it entirely on his own. But he did insist on writing "Happy Christmas" in every one.

LiegeAndLief · 20/12/2013 23:33

Both summer babies btw,just very different!

StarlightMcKingsThree · 20/12/2013 23:36

My dd is in reception. She CAN write and she got a few cards. I just thought 'oh, that's nice'. It never even occurred to me to give cards to her classmates from her as she sees them every day and can just say 'happy Christmas' if she wants.

And though she can write, how bloody boring for her.

GW297 · 21/12/2013 00:06

Slippers - that is such a lovely idea!

justgirl · 21/12/2013 00:31

i sat down with my little boy the other night.....he has 7 in hisclass, and 13 or so in pre-school who kind of "share" the class...

I let him right "To X Love Z" for about 2 cards, then ended up with hi writing their name and his name, and i did all the rest. it was infuriating!!!!

zen1 · 21/12/2013 01:25

arethereanyleftatall my DS is in reception and can't write yet and is unable to do any of it due to SEN (which may not be apparent to other parents). However, I still saw the point in writing out his cards because his classmates go out of their way to help him in school and many sent him a card and drew him little pictures. Nothing to do with manners, and I hope his classmates' parents don't judge him or me because he didn't do any of it himself.

EarSlaps · 21/12/2013 06:56

My DS is a late summer born. He refused to do any drawing or colouring and wouldn't really pick up a pencil until they started doing it at school. He wrote his name and some kisses. Except he usually ran out of room for the last letter of his name and put it randomly elsewhere on the card. The only friend's name he write was to Tom, because it's easy.

I had been worried about his writing, as I knew a lot of his friends had been happy to write for quite a while, but actually it looks fairly similar to most of his class. There were a couple of very neat child written ones (both are much older in the year than DS) and some that were very hard to decipher.

And yes, I do remind myself it's silly to worry about his writing since I hadn't started school at his age (Easter starter), and most children his age around the world won't be learning to write for another couple of years. I think it's more his stubborn refusal to write than the writing itself, but he's a perfectionist and hates that it is so messy! So we focus on drawing, Hama beads and Lego instead at home to develop his fine motor skills.

hazeyjane · 21/12/2013 08:25

Arethereanyleftatall

We have very different views.

My dd1 wanted to write out all her cards when she was in reception.
My dd2 struggles with writing, and could barely write her name in reception (she is now 6 and being assessed for dyslexia) she wrote one card, and helped choose the cards and stuck them in the envelope, but I don't see the point in forcing her to do something which is supposed to be about fun. However she wanted to send her friends cards, because everyone else does, and it would be harsh to be the only one who doesn't.
Ds is starting reception next year, he will be in a special learning unit in a mainstream school - he is delayed in all areas (global developmental delay), has no speech, can draw a circle and signs that it is a pirate, but I don't think he could stretch to 30 cards! However I think it is nice (in the spririt of inclusion) if he can give cards to his friends in the unit and in mainstream.

PicaK · 21/12/2013 08:42

Another one whose ds is delayed. Fine motor skillspoor and can't read or write recongnisable letters yet. But wants to send cards to his friends. So we printed out photo of him with a merry xmas message and he helped me stick that in the card and he joined up the dots on the first letter of each kid's name. Massive effort of concentration on his part. I would go ballistic if someone sneered "what was the point of that"

softlysoftly · 21/12/2013 08:50

DD1 is preschool but 4 and wrote all 28 of hers in 2 evenings. Their name and her name. I wrote the envelope which she copied though as she can't actually spell yet.

Apart from anyone with a K in their name. Ks properly pen throwing stsmping piss her off Hmm

But then she adores crafty writing stuff so every kid is different.

2Tinsellytocare · 21/12/2013 10:57

I agree Pica its for the kids getting the cards not the parents and THAT is the point of it, my DC loved getting cards from their friends and didnt make any mention of who'd done the actual writing

Fakebook · 21/12/2013 11:01

My dd did last year in reception. She's November born though so was more confident with writing and copying names than children born later in the year.

gobbledegook1 · 21/12/2013 11:08

My DS did all his in one go with me just spelling the other childrens names out, he started to get a bit fed up towards the end though and only wrote about 12. He just put 'to x' 'from x' no merry christmas. I wrote the envolopes. Some parents put their childs name at the bottom in brackets underneath the childs name in case it wasnt readable.

PigsInParis · 21/12/2013 11:20

DD (4yo - spring baby) wrote all her Christmas cards this year, over three nights. However she really wanted to. She has just started writing and loves it.

I wasn't trying to push it - hell it would've been easier had I written them (and taken a fifth of the time to do so!) but DD wanted to. The irony was this was the first year I hadn't written any of DS's cards either (9yo hyper mobile so struggles to write).

Half of the cards we received were written by the children - so I'm guessing it's fairly normal tbh.

lljkk · 21/12/2013 12:34

now-y1-DS would have done it if he had a September birthday. He wants to be a scribe.

(he can't read or calculate, mind).

My other DC could not have done.

2Tinsellytocare · 21/12/2013 13:25

I've got 2 late summer babies one wrote cards one didnt

Original poster
Goldchilled7up · 21/12/2013 21:00

Ear your DS sounds just like mine.

OP posts:
Athrodiaeth · 22/12/2013 21:11

I wrote the 'To [name]' bit, and 'from', then he wrote his name. He did 30 over two nights. I did the other 30 (two forms, very mixed, had cards from both classes.)

KitCat26 · 22/12/2013 21:31

DD1 4 (last August) wrote her name in 10 cards. To be honest I think it will be a bigger thing next year.

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