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

It's neater than my 10 year old's writing.

Maybe Charlotte's teachers are using the Spanish method whatever it may be grin

The nanny is Spanish I believe.

I thought they called their Father “Pops”.

I wish my 16 year old wrote that well.

My dd could write like that at the same age. She has atrocious handwriting on a day to day basis, but if she concentrates her cursive is excellent. And yes, she learned it in year one.

The Queen had ridiculously beautiful writing by about age 7 based on things I've seen before. I can't find any examples now but I'm sure someone else could.

Find it bizarre that so many teachers have noted the standard of Charlotte's writing is certainly possible and yet 7 pages in people are saying 'not hers' based on nothing really! I've taught infants (state) and would say it wouldn't be surprising for a Y2 so can well believe a privately educated, nearly 6-year-old Y1 could write like this. Whether your 19 year old can write like this or not is completely irrelevant! Not sure what point that pp was trying to make - I too was a straight A student at an RG uni once upon a time and could write considerably more neatly than Charlotte's example because, yknow, I was an adult As can many people, straight A students or not. Equally many secondary pupils who had beautiful writing skills in the past suddenly write really scruffily because it's not generally a focus anymore.

@AmyDudley

* GNCQ

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.*

Both mine were taught cursive writing as soon as they started school (state school).

I believe it is her handwriting - it is neat and legible for a five year old - I imagine she was trying her best to be neat for a special card, and she has had an exclusive education -and presumably a lot of one to one during home learning.

Does anyone else find the idea of young children writing cards to a dead grandmother they have never known a little uncomfortable ? I think it confuses children and is for the benefit of adults rather than the children themselves.

Yes exactly @AmyDudley, far stranger that three little children should be writing messages to a dead grandmother for Mother's Day than that they have good handwriting! An exercise in reminding the public about poor Diana, and William and Harry's tragic loss, I think!

My daughter was born on the same day as Charlotte. She is in year one at a primary state school, not private, and this is her handwriting in a story she wrote. Not cursive so I do think Charlotte’s handwriting is very good!

I have no idea how other children write, in my daughter’s class, as it is no concern of mine (and I mean that in a nice way). All children progress at different rates.

Charlotte will have added the xxxxx kisses

Someone else wrote the message.

There's no way she wrote that at 5. Maybe she dictated it and one of the older ones wrote it.

C'mon folks, it's beautiful handwriting, the wee poppet is tiny. Wonderful hand-eye coordination and concentration.

I have seen astonishingly good handwriting in age 5-6 children before, those who are new migrants from India and China. Their parents move heaven and earth to ensure their children perform well at school.

Our local children's writing tends to be much scruffier 😂

My almost 12 year old has much worse writing like that. He has dyspraxia though. :)

(His Mothers day card to me had wonky writing and scribbles and made my heart swell with pride).

My daughter could have doe it my sons no chance!

You could have wave after wave of teachers on here saying its perfectly possible and people would still say its impossible anything to put the boot in even attacking a five year old handwriting

@Llioed

My daughter was born on the same day as Charlotte. She is in year one at a primary state school, not private, and this is her handwriting in a story she wrote. Not cursive so I do think Charlotte’s handwriting is very good!

I have no idea how other children write, in my daughter’s class, as it is no concern of mine (and I mean that in a nice way). All children progress at different rates.

That is lovely handwriting lliod. :) Beautiful and clear.

I'm a year 1 teacher.

This writing is very good! But, because it's a card, she most likely did a draft first - to get all the spelling and punctuation right.
She will have them copied that on to the card itself in pencil. she will have them gone over it in pen to make it clearer for the photo.

It's probs taken three lesson inputs to do this.

I do find it odd that she does kisses in that way, given that the rest of her writing is perfectly formed. But it's very sweet. She's worked hard on it - well done, Charlotte!

Adult DS never got the hang of cursive writing and still prints now, he has got a Physics degree though and has a good accountancy job so it never held him back. Her writing is lovely and very grown up looking, I really worried about DS's writing at school as it always looked so childish and still does now.

All my three children wrote like that at five to eleven years . Independent preps in my experience put huge stress on cursive writing , printing is discouraged and ink is used early. All actually had ‘handwriting’ as part of the curriculum . Legibility and spelling are rated as almost as important as content, if not more at this age.

Interestingly all of mine now have awful handwriting after going through secondary

DD is 4 and she can't write yet. If she can write like that by 5 I'll be over the moon. She has also just started drawing legible people and not just scribbling on the paper.

Did anyone see the cake photo? It was beautifully decorated too. Very talented children, mine at that age would have had more icing on them than the cake.

My DS is reception 5 and struggles with writing (is left handed which I believe tends to make it harder). He is still at the tracing letters stage.

I totally agree it is ridiculous to be invested in the q of whether a 5 year old wrote this... but I totally am now, it's good escapism from every day!

Anyway my 2 cents is that it is a very consistent handwriting style - eg each y looks very similar, each a, even the angle of the dot over each i, and the m's are consistent but not usual cursive style. So my guess is that it is a well-practised personal style of handwriting rather than a 'learner' handwriting - compare it to George's note where the different instances of each letter are less consistent. The crosses at the end of Charlotte's note look more like learner writing. So I think it was probably a joint effort with a helpful grown up. Not that that means anything negative about Charlotte or the grown-up, and of course I could be wrong! But on balance of probability, not a young child's writing I reckon.

Cursive is actually better for children with dyslexia/dyspraxia as it doesn’t involve taking the pen over the page as much.

That should be off not over

My ds's handwriting is not great. However I have seen others in his class, particularly the older girls in the class, and they are similar to Charlotte's. He is in reception and is learning cursive. They encourage them to join up even in reception and it seems to work well.