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

Oh and he can make himself simple meals like cereal, hummus picnic plate etc. I've got him hoovering now and then too. He needs to know how much work goes into running a house and hoovering is a simple way to help.

DS1 is 6. He can:

• build strong friendships and sort out his own friendship issues/playground battles without any adult intervention (well, the mild and infrequent ones we've had so far in year 1)
• mostly can understand that people have different ideas, beliefs and feelings to him and that those need to be respected/accommodated
• he has the self control to act appropriately in most situations eg. he enjoys a good wrestle with his friends but never gets the red mist and hurts them, he never has a public 'meltdown' etc
• make good risk assessments in physical play, eg. he is quite adventurous with stuff like climbing trees but has never hurt himself beyond a grazed knee
• play complex games like monopoly and chess
• happily listen for hours to quite complex stories like the Hobbit, and also write long, expressive stories himself using a wide vocabulary
• ride his bike without stabilisers (since he was 2 and a half)
• run fast and long, and will walk for miles
• create amazing art or lego structures of his own initiative

He cannot:

• spell, oh it's awful, sometimes I look at a long piece of work and my heart sinks because it looks like nonsense until he translates it for me
• do any times table apart from the 2 and the 10
• be really purposeful about a 'start/finish' task (whether it be putting on his clothes at home or tidying away stuff at school if left to his own devises he gets distracted and doesn't finish without many reminders)
• tell 'left' from 'right'
• tell the time on a clock face
• look adult strangers/people he doesn't know well in the eye when answering questions, or give more than a mono-syllabic answer
• remember which day of the week it is, or remember the months in order

Essentially the point is, like most DC he has particular gifts and other areas he's not strong in. In 5 years these may have changed round completely. Comparisons between DC are only helpful to alert parents to areas where their DC might need extra support, or to give them positive ideas as to areas we can help our kids develop (like I was reading the other commentators and I was thinking "why haven't I taught DS how to make toast yet, he'd love that") . . . . it should never ever be used to make us or our kids feel bad.