To think DD should be able to hold her pen in the way she finds most comfortable?

[bluegreenandgold]

DD (8) holds her pen strangely, she always has.

She has been told to hold it correctly by all her teachers over the years and been given various things to help encourage this but she finds it impossible to maintain holding it in the traditional way so reverts back.

Does it matter? I don't think it does, her writing is neat.

Funnily enough, we had this exact discussion in the staff room the other day. General consensus was that if it's not causing fatigue or poor writing, then it's not an issue to worry about. Amongst the 30 or so of us there, we had about 15 different styles of pencil grips.

As long as

1. Their handwriting is legible
2. They don't experience fatigue after prolonged writing sessions
3. They can write quickly

I think it's fine for people to hold their pen whichever way they prefer.

I wrote (and still do) like this at school, people throughout the years have tried to correct me ! But it hurts to hold it the normal way and I feel I have more control over the pen and my writing like this, as long as it's legible I don't see the problem!

I hold my pen a bit weird- two finger support. My writing is fine. I'm in my 50s. Any attempt to change the way your dd hold her pen smacks of the 30s Irish convent education my mum had. They forced her to write right handed because to do otherwise was satanic. She's a leftie.
If her writing is neat , meh.

I hold it wrong too, never really caused me an issue, was fine in my exams at school (even the 3 hour long ones!) and university and my handwriting is neat. I remember my teachers telling my mum there's no point trying to correct it. Hardly use pens these days except to scribble a few notes at work but seems to be getting less and less

I held my pen 'wrongly' all through primary school and no-one noticed. I'm hypermobile, and my hands are particularly affected, so I wonder if that is why. One of my secondary school teachers picked me up on it and I tried to retrain myself aged 14, with some success. Now I can write fluently either way, but I always revert to 'wrong' when I'm tired. It's never caused me a problem, even with back to back 3 hour essay papers at university!

I did the same as a child and never learnt to hold a pen properly. The main consequence was felt during exam time and uni when I had to write lots (before essays were done on a computer!). I would suffer terrible hand cramps which were distracting and stressful (during an exam at least).

Apart from that it's ok. You can't tell from my writing I don't hold a pen properly and I rarely have to write more than a birthday card my hand these days so hand cramps aren't an issue.

If hands are getting fatigued when writing my dd's consultant suggests they build up muscle strength in the hands rather that change grip.

He recommends these.

I've held my pen an odd way my whole life. I have lovely writing (if I do say so myself) and can write very quickly. The only thing is I do have a hard callous on the back of the finger my pen rests on. Doesn't phase me thou. I always hated people going on about it as if I were flawed. If she can write what's the issue?

Thewine I think that's the correct way!

I held my pen strangely at that age and a teacher helped me to change. I was reluctant, but all the adults in my life helped me to see that it would be easier in the long run although difficult at the time. I tried and persevered. I'm glad I did as I still was not a quick writer, but it would have been a lot more difficult had I not made the switch. At 8 children are often still experimenting. It's definitely not too late to change.
It is ultimately her choice though.

Me and my sister used to held our pens strange in our left hands and have terrible handwriting but i now use a swan neck pen for left handers, it has improve our handwriting, worked for us but it should be okay for a 8 year old to use but all depends on the school policy.

I am left handed. The amount of "oh, I would never be able to do it, show me how you do it, OMG, that's so funny, you lefties really are different" I've heard in my life is endless.
Wouldn't worry about it. Can she write? Can she write relatively fast but still be easy to read? If yes, stop worrying.