4 year old not following instructions at Preschool

[Maia290]

My son's teacher has told me that my boy doesn't follow instructions at Preschool deliberately, such as, he was told to paint something in yellow and he used a different colour instead, deliberately as he knows the colours, and many more examples.
I am worried about this. At home he often doesn't want to do what he has been told either, such as getting dressed, having a bath, and so on.
What can I do so he follows instructions at Preschool? The teacher makes him repeat the activity until he does it properly, but I will like to motivate him somehow, so he does it properly the first time round, as we think he knows the stuff.
Has anybody got the same problem? What do you do?

I think when you think something is a problem it's hard not to want to solve it which leads to conflict more often than cooperation. I relearn once a fortnight or so to calm down, shout less, be more playful and give more cuddles. The biggest predictor of the kids mood is mine, if I am helpful then they are too ( eventually, even my stroppiest and she is pretty stroppy:)

Ah that explains the different flavour of nursery. At DS's nursery in the UK they would have this sort of game out for him to try if he wanted, but if he wanted to just explore that was fine too. In fact I think a lot of reception was the same, but with the odd burst of phonics and PE. Your DS may even find school less formal when he starts in the UK!

I wonder if part of the problem is just too many instructions. Given more time to follow his own interests at preschool, maybe he'll be more inclined to cooperate when it's time to cooperate.

I think the best thing you can do to help is work on him cooperating with practical things like getting dressed at home. Doesn't have to mean getting cross or time out. How about
countdowns,
races,
breaking the task down into smaller pieces,
natural consequences (if you get dressed quickly there'll be time for a story/ we're going in 10 minutes, if you're not dressed you'll have to go in the car in your pyjamas),
make sure you have their attention before you ask (4 yr olds can be impressively selectively deaf if they're concentrating on their play!),
joking them through it (will this shoe fit me? shall I put it on your ear?), offering choices (do you want to choose a t-shirt or shall I?).

Sure there are more!

I'd use whatever it takes to get the thing done quickly. The more they get used to doing what you ask quickly, the less resistance you get the next time.

well - a lot of children at age 4 are at school and having to follow instructions.

OP - my sister went through this with my niece, and we (family) were all very much like people on this thread - it's fine, she's being creative, she's very young etc etc. But, after a dreadful first year at school, she has been diagnosed with high-functioning autism. So the concerns her pre-school raised were in fact valid.

I'm not trying to scaremonger but it might be worth monitoring and involving your GP (or equivalent in Spain)? It could nothing - but it could be something.

Yes - I used to HATE it when I was a helper at preschools, and the children were TOLD what to do in creative activities, when the whole point is that they LEARN to be CREATIVE!

The supervisor used to cut out parts for animals that the children had to assemble 'correctly'. But the elephants on my table were the only ones with six legs, or a trunk at each end!! Other helpers would take off 'wrong' items from other children's work.

[But this was thirty years ago, so I would hope adults are more enlightened these days.]

My 2 year old has started making colour sorting into a joke, he knows his colours but when I try to encourage him to do colour sorting activities he starts off matching/sorting correctly and then starts doing it wrong, if I ask him "is that one blue?" He laughs and says "nooooo!"I think it's just a reaction to being told what to do, toddler rebellion. If you can't paint a picture the colour you choose when your 3 I think it's quite sad :(