to ask what your 6yo knows

[Daddypigsgusset]

I'm not competitive at all nor do I believe in pushing small people too hard etc.
A few threads on the last couple of weeks have got me wondering what beneficial life skill type things to do with dc out of school.
Yknow, tying laces, telling the time, riding a bike etc.
We're stuck in a rut of crafts, baking, reading that I've forgotten what else children do!

Im so embarrassed by this, I grew up overseas and had a total outdoor life so my perception of what they should do and when is way out of line with others

6.5 year old dd can ride a bike, tell the time, swim a couple of lengths, shower and wash her hair, make a sandwich, feed the cats, knows her 2, 3, 4, 5 and 10 times tables, can read very well and (thankfully) recognises when she is tired and carries herself off to bed early quite often.

She can't tie laces, dry her own hair, get ready for school without being micro managed (dd, get some breakfast, now wash and brush your teeth, now get dressed etc etc - if left to her own devices she'd never eat and would spend her life in her pjs), she is also terrified of the dark.

My 6yo can tie shoelaces, ride a bike, use the telephones and anything else with buttons, and swim lengths. He is pretty good at maths, apparently a couple of years ahead of his class level, but still very much a beginner reader.

He plans to be a part-time mechanic when he grows up so he can turn my car into a batmobile.

coralanne I was trying to reassure op that things like tying laces and telling the time are not life skills.

my 24 year old ds still does the laces by tying the knot twice while I am not convinced that my dd14 can actually tell the time as she uses her phone and digital watch.

I wasn't being mean here I was saying there are far far more important skills to teach like swimming and staying safe

not every post on mumsnet can be scoured to ensure it doesn't offend everyone.

my second ds is dyslexic. my 15 year old dd has lifelong physical and psychological injuries following a crash.

we all have our stories here.

Can read everything, write reasonably, do most time tables, dress herself, undress herself & fling clothes all around, use the toilet & wipe & flush, take a shower, ride a bike very well, argue & negotiate any situation until I am exhausted & give in, keep up with some amount of general knowledge & world news (has her own newspaper), use a tablet/ iPhone/ DS/ any remote & all car controls.

Can't eat! (Needs to be fed or reminders every 30 seconds to put spoon in mouth). Can't tie laces, can't run without falling over, can't throw a ball in a straight line, struggles to do long staircases.

Mixed bag.

DD1 is 7

She can't ride a bike at all
Shes just given up ballet
Struggles with times tables
Shes learning to swim
She does Beavers and Horse Riding as well
She can't tie laces
She has no spatial awareness due to eye sight
She reads however really well and loves Roald Dahl, books on ponies and Horrid Henry

DD1 could

Tie laces
Ride a bike
Read well
Tell the time but 10 past and 10 to we're stumbling blocks for a while.
Roller skate
Basic hygiene but struggled to wash her own hair, it's quite long.
Get ready for the day.

She still can't swim, it runs in the family though, DS only did a full length last year despite being hugely sporty, he's 13!

DS could do mostly the same except tie laces. He still has issues now and will stuff his feet into his trainers and shoes rather than untie them if he can get away with it.

Oh, and I fully empathise with arguing the situation until you're exhausted. They were both an expert at age 6..

DS can ride a bike/scooter/quad bike.

Can't tie laces

Can read

Can make toast/sandwich

Does Muay Thai outside school

Can't brush his own teeth (laziness)

Can't eat dinner without knocking a drink over

DD is 6 and is in year 1. She can tie laces, ride a bike, swim a length. She is starting to learn how to tell the time but not very good at it yet. She's a good reader but I don't think she knows her times tables. She can get dressed, go to the loo and brush her teeth independently. She can do her hair but doesn't brush it for long enough so I have to do it again to get all the knots out!

Outside school she does beavers, gym, tennis and swimming.

DGS is six. His talents include:

Reading fluently
2,5,and 10 times tables, working on the 9 times.
Rides a bike.
Swims a length or so, learning to dive.
Can tell the time.

On the other hand
Can't do shoelaces in a million years
I have seen better drawings done by chimps.

Dgs is 7 now but at 6 he couldn't tie laces (shoes all velcro) or tell the time (just starting to manage that now). He knew some times tables (knows most now). He could ride a bike without stabilisers at 4 and learnt to swim last Summer when he was 6.he can do toast and make sandwiches and clean his teeth. He reads fluently and has done for over a year now but his writing is untidy. His drawing has been very good for a while and he knows all sorts of stuff about space and big cats.

Out of school he does Beavers and rugby as well as swimming. As a family they have walking holidays and he can do a 7 mile walk.

I am teaching them to load the washing machine, make sanwiches, and breakfasts. hang washing,

dd is 7 and good at tidying.

ds is 5 and not so.

they are learning to shower and wash themselves competantly.

when they are a bit older I will teach them to cook.

they take their own books out of the library

they use the computer competantly. ds is still passworded though as he is too competant and deletes things/changes things and downright annoys me is he is allowed into my account. wiped all the icons off the desktop. grrr.

dd can tell the time to a minute and use a 24 hour clock.

DD1 is almost 6, she cannot ride a bike without stabilisers, can tell the time on the o'clock, can't tie her laces, she can shower and wash herself but can't do her hair as she has waist length ringlet curls. She is a pro on the ipad, plays violin to grade 1 level. She does ballet, french and beavers too.

DS1 is 7. He Has been riding his bike since age 4. He can definitely swim a length as he's had weekly lessons since he was small. He can't tie his shoe laces, despite having a Beavers lesson on it recently! Has just this year got the hang of telling the time. He's a bit of a maths whizz so can do any times tables you ask him. And he can write a little music!

I've been a bit slack at getting him to do things in the kitchen independently. He has made a sandwich at home and at Beavers, but he is really rubbish at spreading the butter But I've just started getting him to put the recycling bags every week whilst I do the black bags, and he gets asked to set the table most days. He is also supposed to make his bed every morning, and he always tidies away his and ynger brothers things from dinner.

TheBody I understand that everyone has their own story to tell.

I think it was just a shock to read that phrase in your post.

It's a long, long time since I have heard anyone using the word idiot as a descriptor.

No harm done though.

My 6 yr old:

• Can ride bike (learnt when 5)
• Never tried to tie laces as has no laced shoes
• can tell time to quarter hours
• knows her 2,5&10 times tables
• can read really well and loves it
• can make a sandwich

My 7 year old:

• can ride a bike (learnt bang on 7)
• tries hard with laces but not there yet but can do his school tie
• knows all his times tables
• can't tell the time for toffee
• finds reading hard and boring

DS could ride a bike at 4 (had a balance bike before that and went like the clappers on that)
Learned to tie a tie and shoe laces at 7
Could tell the time at 6
Started karate when he was 5 and still does it (now 8, just grading for belt below black-belt)
Could swim a length at 6 if he felt like it and was feeling confident but often gave up.
Can cook a meal by himself (under supervision but not much) now (eg stir fry with noodles)

At 28 I still can't tie shoe laces, I avoid footwear with laces.

They do up then a few minutes later they manage to undo themselves

DD is 7. At 6 she could:

Ride a bike
Roller scate
Ice scate
Karate to brown stripe
Various gymnastic moves - backward roll, cartwheel etc.
Tie her laces
Tell the time on the hour and half past the hour only.
Make a snack.
Make a cake/biscuits.
Make a cup of tea.
Read instructions and follow them.
Design and make doll hats/clothes.
Start to swim (doggy paddle).
Use a computer well.
Wash her own hair.
Tie her hair in a ponytail.
Sew a button and simple stitches.
Create really good paintings and drawings.

I'll try and think of some more later. She seems to be naturally able to do lots of things and has taught herself to do many of them i.e. learnt to tie her own shoelaces age 4 and learnt to swim herself. Sorry, I'm very proud of her.

6.6yo ds can:
Ride a bike (as long as he thinks you're holding on! He falls off when he realises you've let go-which may be 20+m away!)
Can ice skate, but hasn't tried rollerskates.
Can tie knots but not laces-but has had no need to learn.
Can dress himself but would choose not to if he can get away with it .Grrrr.
Knows 2,3,4,5, 6 10, 11 x tables, and can work out the others if you give him time. Especially pleased to do it with negative numbers.
Has just discovered the existance of imaginary numbers and is very pleased to tell people about them (!)
Tell the time to 5 minutes.
Measure with a ruler to nearest mm/ protractor to nearest degree.
Can do forward/backward roll.
Can do anything on the computer including memorising passwords from watching once being typed in (discourage this skill; it isn't good!)
Sew on a sewing machine.
Tap dance
Knows lots about various military planes/WWII/dinosaurs
Will tell you infinity isn't a number, it's a concept.
Fold paper aeroplanes
Fly his remote control aeroplane
Reads anything, but don't ask him to write especially if it's homework.
Can read basic music notation.

Can't swim (ear infections)
Doesn't like stopping what he's doing that's fun to do something necessary!

coralanne good. idiot is a widely used word really isn't it? usually in a light hearted way.

I left my credit card at the self serve today and my dh called me, quite rightly, a daft idiot. that's fine as he too often does idiotic things.

I am not planning to divorce him today.

I really am amazed that you find the word idiot shocking but hey each to their own.

I have seen posters call each other cunts here. now that does raise my eyebrow.

Six year old dd can tie laces, tell time, cook basic meals (stuff like making a roux or omelette or decent rice, stuff adults struggle with if not taught), knits, crochets, reads novels and writes decent short stories, draws well etc.

I also teach her other stuff like geography and laws and political and social history. She knows how the world developed and how her own country changed over time. Important events and people in history are discussed and read about. Current events too. I suppose I try and make her appreciate the world we live in, past and present whether that's cultural or political or historical. Mostly we have lots and lots of fun, make a mess and laugh lots.

Mine can swim really well, play football well, can't tie laces as he has no shoes with laces, can't tell the time, has just started riding his bike with stabilisers as couldn't even pedal it until this year.

They'll teach him the time at school, he'll get more confident on his bike with practice (i was 7 riding with no stabilisers) and we will practice laces when he gets some shoes with them. I don't worry about stuff like that.