… to think there's something wrong with me? :(

[Dieu]

No piss taking please, as I feel genuinely, irrationally upset at this moment!
My 10 year old daughter just asked if I would plait her hair. My heart sunk, as I am completely rubbish at doing hair. I tried and failed, so we looked up THE most simple hair braiding youtube tutorial. I still couldn't get it, or what my hands were supposed to do. Teenage daughter (girls are wasted on me, with my poor hairdressing skills!) came into the room, and did her hair in two seconds flat. I also couldn't get my head around it when she showed me. Than it struck me that I have failed 8 driving tests (the theory was aced first time). Could it be linked? Academically I am bright; I have a first class degree and can speak several languages. However, my practical/manual/co-ordination skills completely suck! I actually felt embarrassed just there in front of my daughters, and pretty fucking ineffectual. Is anyone else like this? Can't help but feel that I'd be diagnosed with something, if still in childhood (I should add that I possess good writing skills, etc). Of course it could be that I'm over thinking this, being too hard on myself, and that I just happen to be shite at practical driving tests and hair!

insani1ty - that would be me! No sense of direction.

insani1ty - that would be me! No sense of direction.

My poor mum tried to teach me how to knit for years, I just could not understand it! I still don't. It's sorcery!

insani1ty - that would be me! No sense of direction.

I'm a bit rubbish at practical stuff too. I've always done well academically, but unfortunately I work in a food service role atm so I spill stuff, drop things, struggle with machines, I even struggle to lock the restaurant door . I used to work in a healthcare setting that involved loads of practical stuff and it took me over a year in the job to really kind of get to grips with procedures/equipment.

I don't drive but I can plait hair- nothing fancy though. I'm pretty sure if my dad was young today he'd be diagnosed with dyspraxia: his handwriting is terrible, can't tie shoe laces, can't do sports. We're trying to get DS diagnosed due to his handwriting difficulties. I don't think I'd meet the criteria for diagnosis but I think I'll always be a bit useless at practical stuff .

Oops sorry about the multiple posts - my browser was acting up!

My poor mum tried to teach me how to knit for years, I just could not understand it! I still don't. It's sorcery!

Yes to getting lost! I go in a shop and can't find my way out again! I also tried to play an RPG game but just ran in circles because I could not work out on the screen where I was going nor coordinate my controller to what I was seeing on the screen.

I had 3 girls, hair nearly down to their waist who had their hair brushed, tied in a ponytail, plaited and put in a bun by me before school at speed. They fervently wished I couldn't plait hair, methinks!
I am good at English, spelling, grammar and maths but can't walk through the lounge, bedroom or pretty much anywhere without walking into the door, bed or coffee table, I'm covered in bruises all the time. Sense of direction? Don't make me laugh! My ability to get lost/never find my way out of a building/inability to remember the same route twice is legendary, I could write a book on it!
We're all good at some things, crap at others so don't worry about it.

Oh I will never be able to do a French plait but luckily my Sil is a hairdresser!
I can't bear written instructions, loud noises, flat packs, was shit at maths at school and took ages to learn to tell the time, swim and left and right. I just don't get things and get brain fog.
However I was/am a good dancer but I struggled to follow and learn a routine which lead to me giving up. I could only improvise.
I'm also good at English/languages and have an excellent memory for faces/names/descriptive stuff.
My brain feels even more fuzzy now I've had DD

I'm pretty good at most of this stuff - except maths.
It's been the bane of my life.
I can add and subtract obv and work our percentages and stuff but failed my GCSE so badly the tutor I rang said it wouldn't be worth re sitting it! 😞
I can honestly say my 7 year old funds maths easier than me.

Thanks for your concern . I was trying to close it but couldn't work out how it closed, so put my head under the board for a closer look whilst still trying to close it... then it snapped shut on my head.

No-one saw me but I told DH about it later. He didn't say anything. At all. Nothing.

I have zero spatial awareness, it took my six attempts to pass my driving test the first two times I failed the first two through sheer nerves, then tests 3, 4 and 5 I failed because I drove too close to parked cars that I'd driven past less than an hour before during my pre test lesson ffs. I'm also shit at maths and have wondered if I have dycalculia because a lot of the symptoms (poor judgement of distances, generally being crap at maths and weirdly having trouble remembering choreographed dance moves) all apply to me. But I'm good at languages, like PPs have said we can't all be good at everything

OP, this is me.

I can't do dd hair, never have.
I have an Hons degree and a PgCE
I too passed driving theory with 100% they came and told me. Failed driving test once but won't take it again.

I won't do this because I can't judge distances amongst other things.

I am diagnosed Dyslexic and Dyspraxic, have ADHD and a slow processing disorder.

DS1 wears velcro fastening shoes. his approach to laces is much the same as mine to driving. He's also unbelievably fussy about the style. And needs new shoes for the autumn because canvas pumps don't quite cut when it's pissing down or icy.

After being owned by it for 13 years, I have finally got the hang of not letting the ironing board drop on my foot when I let it down.

DH is a software developer who can't work our washer. I leave him with detailed instructions and, yet, every single time, he manages to stuff it up or, worse, break it! Doesn't help that it's a washer dryer which behaves completely differently when it finishes a wash cycle compared with a dry cycle with regards to turning it off and getting the door open. Yes, the door handle broke, last time I asked him to fish a load out of the dryer when it had finished Admittedly, it had been feeling a bit spongy for a while, but he finished it off. The type of door meant that none of the online how to break into your washer tutorials worked. We ended up having to wait for an engineer to come and snap the handle off (under warranty, so we weren't going to do it, even if we knew about it) so we could reach the release latch and be able to use it, until a replacement part arrived.

I've done all the laundry myself, since then.

I can read a map and navigate brilliantly for another driver. But I still get lost or end up walking miles out of my way to get to a bit I remember in the city I have lived in for over 20 years. I just have no sense of direction of my own whatsoever and find it really hard to remember how one landmark relates to another. I am frequently very embarrassed when asked for directions.

There is a fascinating condition called cerebral visual impairment - it can be very mild but can greatly affect really specific bits of perception such as spacial awareness and hand eye co-ordination. Professor Gordon dutton has written extensively about it. He has created a diagram called the tree of Vision which explains how certain problems are linked and the severity depends on how far down the branch or twig the problem occurs.
Interestingly on the opposite side to you motor problems lies another problem I've seen mentioned onmumsnet where people struggle to recognise and remember faces !
These problems are more common in premature babies or those with difficult births or mild brain injuries or infections !

This is me too! Very academic but zero spatial awareness and passed my driving test on my 10th attempt. It's only very recently that I put 2 and 2 together and realised that I must be dyspraxic. Spent most of my life people telling me I was stupid/have no common sense/not trying hard enough etc. I feel anxious about going somewhere new in case I get lost. And rely very heavily on sat nav!

My DH is good at all the tasks I am crap at though and I rely very heavily on sat nav. Before I got one I was pulling over after every road to recheck the map because I couldn't hold the directions in my head!

Ever asked for directions and then only been able to remember the first couple of instructions in your head?

Sounds like dyspraxia to me too.

Can you balance easily on one foot? And hop without falling over? Dance in time and keep rhythm easily? Did it take you long to master how to ride a bike?

People who struggle with recipes might find stuff like this helpfu - both the description with photos and the way of setting out the ingredients list!
www.cookingforengineers.com/recipe/60/The-Classic-Tiramisu-original-recipe

Does anyone else constantly misjudge the distance they are to a door handle? I work in a school so go through about 10 sets of fire doors to get anywhere and I am constantly misjudging my distance to the door and looking like a twat doing a pathetic swipe of my hand mid-air as I grasp for the handle!

I'm the same. I drive, but its a struggle and i cant reverse park.
I cant plait.
I spill and drop things ALL THE TIME.
If i drop something on the floor i often topple sideways and hit my head when bending down to pick it up
I cant play any kind of ball games.
I think its very poor spatial awareness. My dad was the same.

This sounds like me too!

I have a degree, but am hopeless at almost all practical stuff. I can't drive, and am hopeless at DIY, cooking, sewing, knitting - anything like that. I dread doing things like folding and unfolding DS's scooter as I find it so hard. I struggle hugely with instructions for putting stuff together - just can't seem to understand the diagrams at all. This often means something that should take a minute will take half an hour, and I eventually have to give up.

Only the other day I was thinking that I feel as if there's something wrong with me - my skills in these areas are just so poor. I'm going to look up dyspraxia now...

i come from an intelligent family and am well educated...
but can't walk and drink :-o

I drive but if it's bay parking, I have to look for two parking spaces next to each other as otherwise I risk scraping the car or worse someone else's car. I hate changing lanes with a passion, though I can parallel park. I have no sense of direction. I can go into a small shop and come out again and be unable to remember which way down the street I was walking, even in my home town (have lived here for 40+ years). I have no hand eye coordination at all and can't catch. I can just about swim, but probably not much better than the average seven year old.

But I can do complex maths, play the violin and piano to a high standard, speak three languages apart from English (one fluently, two fairly well), can do tricky financial stuff, follow flat pack instructions and sew really well. I can do plaits! As long as they are just plaits and not all that tricky fishtail business.

We are all different. DH can do the sense of direction thing, catch anything you chuck at him randomly and park in the tiniest of spaces. But my 9 year old is significantly better at all academic subjects than he is.

Yes definitely do the hand swipe Lemon
I also don't recognise myself in a mirror so have countless times in shops walked into full length mirrors expecting the person to dodge me. I also can't see things if I don't know what it is I'm looking looks like so if the packaging changes then I can't find stuff and when they move stuff I can't find things because I have a plan in my mind and I can't alter it to look elsewhere.
I have to lie and say I'm a visitor if asked for directions because I haven't got a clue in spite of living in this area all my life.