Aibu does anyone else have a five year old who writes like this?

[ConkerBonkers]

I am blown away by Charlotte's handwriting, she is only five. Surely this is preternaturally advanced? Link below.

My own DC who is also five cannot write like this, and I thought his writing was great...feeling bad about my homeschool skills!

Please put my mind at rest!

news.sky.com/story/george-charlotte-and-louis-make-cards-for-granny-diana-on-mothers-day-12245781

Do you really think the PR office went out to find a child to write it as a stunt.

Of course not, they got an adult to write it.

I’m not convinced a parent would ask a 5 year old to write to a dead granny and then post in the newspaper. It’s quite invasive.

Well I wouldn’t, but the RF are a weird lot and a bit desperate.

@SenecaTrewe

It's so weird that they made the card public like that.

Quite.

It’s good handwriting, she has learned to form most letters well with hooks for joining, and has learned how to make some joins. It’s hard to tell if the spacing , spelling and punctuation is hers because she could well be copying or being told but she is good. As is George to be fair, his writing is neat , legible and even .

I imagine that they have spent a lot of time doing preparation, handwriting exercises, patterns and letter formation to help their hand muscles to strengthen. I have always been impressed by the handwriting of Polish children who have learned to write in Poland before coming to the UK, I think they must do the same sort of preparatory work over there!

In a 4 form entry state school I once worked in, there were maybe 2 year ones with that level of handwriting - so 2/120. This was earlier in the year (I was only there a few weeks in the autumn term), in a school that starts teaching cursive (or, at least, pre-cursive writing with all the "right" flicks) straight away.

Most wouldn't be this neat by the end of the end of the year, but not completely unseen, no.

I doubt in lockdown 1 they were ignored by their school and given a few worksheets, access to online books only and no marking or feedback as most state children were for a term! Or 15 mins online lessons a day and a parent juggling a job and teaching them in lockdowns 2&3.

It's much better than George's writing, and he is two years older!

Looking at it again, I actually think one of the 5 year olds I'm thinking of had better penmanship than Charlotte. Her handwriting was extraordinary though, proper outlier stuff.

It's good for a five year old, but she does have access to the best education and tutoring. And they will have put the very best work on public display, not the worst work and not the average work either!

I have some work from my daughter when she was five, and the handwriting was even better than that. But plenty of less good work got binned, trust me! And some little girls are just very good at writing and letter formation early, especially if they have artistic flair (if she takes after her mother who is a good photographer and has an art related degree, this seems likely). They may or may not be good at other things, long term. Plenty of my friends have very academically able children whose handwriting has always been quite poor, esp some of the boys.

Charlotte’s handwriting is far better than my straight A A level 19 yo, currently at a RG Uni.

It really is.

It's cursive writing.

They don't normally even start teaching that until a child is 8 years old.

It's no way Charlotte's writing.

Many schools start cursive writing right from the outset now.

Crikey. This is going to sound like a dreadful stealth-brag but this is exactly what I thought was fairly normal for a 5yo. My 6yo DD has been writing like this (but neater) for approx a year, with all the correct punctuation etc. I’m the opposite of a pushy parent (I’m pretty feckless really; in fact, we’ve not changed her reading book for over a year and I’ve never questioned that what she does is maybe unusual (neat hand-writing, writing letters to her grandparents by herself, reading lots of chapter books like Harry Potter by herself). She’s very normal and I assumed many 5/6 year olds are the same. Aren’t they?

I don’t know any children that age writing cursive.

Strange.

I believe it's her writing. She's good, but if she's been helped to spell it's about right. She has a good education and probably started learning in nursery.

My DC's were taught cursive from reception from 2011. Average English state school. Not taught it in nursery though.

My DD could write well in cursive script by 5/6, her twin brother definitely couldn’t. Private schools teach cursive writing at a younger age than state.

FWIW I was independently reading/writing before I started school also and was writing stories and letters in joined-up handwriting by 6, but was never told this was unusual. Me & DD both go/went to v casual, relaxed & fairly bohemian city state schools/average comp and are/were the exact opposite of hot-housed. So I guess some kids are just a bit like this. Charlotte has the best education money can buy so I’d have been v surprised if she wasn’t able to write this well by age 5 tbh.

It's highly likely to be her handwriting.
My kids go to a similar school to Charlotte, their handwriting is practiced and marked as homework every day (in the form of a list of spellings) and they learn cursive from 4.

My niece is a young 6 (July birthday, state school) who writes very like the Charlotte card too - I was admiring it only today!

My kids never really got that good but lots of others in their class have

DS had really neat handwriting in YR/Y1, then started cursive writing with a pen and it all went to pot. Not sure if being left handed made it worse. It also got bigger and bigger, but I think like other PP said he was going for doing a whole page of writing with the least effort. He did tell a teacher once in Y3 it was quality over quantity, although she wasn't too impressed by the quality either!

My daughter has always had super neat writing, so she could have written that when she was five. My son has awful handwriting, even now at 17. She slaves over it, he rushes.
Nothing to do with intelligence though (my father was the smartest person I've ever known, and his writing was illegible - a doctor, of course)!

All the state schools in our area teach cursive - about half from Reception and the rest from Y1.
I have seen quite a lot of Y1s and even a number of Reception children whose handwriting is like this. However, it is the top end of the attainment range, dependent on the teaching, yes, but also on the physical maturity (gross and fine motor skills) of the child. On average, most girls tend to develop dexterity earlier than most boys.

I’d wager if my kids had a private nanny and naive private school yes they’d be able to write like that.

It is good for five - if I saw it without knowing who had written it I would guess 7 or 8 years old. My own writing certainly was much larger at 5 and not always cursive.

However I have definitely seen five year children with similar handwriting, mostly privately educated girls.

Some schools are really particular about teaching certain scripts, for example I know a child who moved to Australia and was made to learn to write a "Melbourne B" (as they called it). I have also seen entire classes with identical handwriting from intensive school lessons, although these children were not in the UK.

My 6 year old wouldn't be able to write that independently or neatly like that

Charlotte is almost six. I would say that it is the higher end of average for Y1 based on DD’s class. I know because I am appalled at how bad DD’s handwriting is compared to her peers. I’d say if Louis wrote his own name then his handwriting is on a par with DD’s. She isn’t behind academically but just not a very neat writer. Charlotte will have had a much more exclusive and expensive education though. I’m not sure it’s comparable (although at least she knows where to put an apostrophe, unlike Prince George).

@MuckyPlucky definitely not. Definite stealth boast.

@MuckyPlucky have you never had a parents' evening where they have talked about your child's levels?