Should I interfere when ds writes or celebrate the fact that he is writing at all

[lecce]

He has just finished YR and is just under 5 1/2. He is such a reluctant writer that I have given up ever doing any with him as the tantrum were just off-putting . He does a few activities from comics and the like but never writes at length through choice. I know from when I used to make him sit and do 10 minutes a night that his letter formation can be ok and he can write legibly but this takes an enourmous amount of concentration and he just hates it.

This week he was given a notebook with a spy logo on the front and it seems to have sparked something within him. He carries it around has written several missions, warnings etc in it. It is lovely to see him using his imagination (though he has always been imaginative) and I love the fact that he is choosing to write. However, what he has written is mainly unreadable - it's not the spellings (these are good or plausible) it's the letter formation and the fact that there are no lines in the notebook.

I don't suppose anyone wold suggest I interfere with his play, but should I be insisting he sits down and does some 'proper' writing with me again? Fwiw, his school report graded his writing as 'above expectations' but I'm not sure exactly what they meant - I know there are many, many children who write more clearly than he does - though he can write clearly, if someone sits with him.

He's still really young, I'd leave him to it. It sounds like he's having a lot of fun.

No idea but dd is exactly the same age and doing the same thing. She generally isn't interested in doing writing practice apart from the odd bit of a magazine but she chose a pink "fairy journal" in the 99p shop and has been keeping a completely unreadable journal for the last week.

I think it is lovely that they are wanting to write - the only suggestion I have for your ds is what I've been doing with dd - asking them to read out a bit just after they have written it. I've then been pointing out the odd thing like a letter the wrong way round etc and suggest that they try to write the letters a bit more neatly so that they can read it.

Hi - exTA here -

I agree, leave him (them) to it. Just as their drawings at this stage are only embryonic, so it is with their 'writing'. Trying to insist they do it 'correctly' will almost certainly discourage/annoy them.

Our DS used to come home from Reception and would mark a 'register' for Mum and Dad every evening: and that was 25 years ago!

Praise as much as you can, particularly if there are any recognisable letters in the correct places. May be suggest they draw little 'illustrations' to accompany the text; then they can be Author and Illustrator!

Bit of both really.

Celebrate that he's writing, especially as so much of it is intelligible.

If you want to check that he's learning good habits (correct pencil grip, correct letter formation - both worth it, BTW as much harder to unlearn bad habits), then try a few minutes writing practice every few days. Not so much as to dishearten him, but enough to reassure you that he is on the right track. Spy messages to each other, perhaps?

I think when children are playing - and his 'messages' are part of his play - then leave them be.
At 5 fine motor skills and therefore handwriting are not that good for many if not most children, and will develop with practice, at other times, when you can sit and help.
My own children liked to fill in the slips at the bank, back in the day, at that age. That was play.
It's nice to save some of their early messages, and later on you will probably save misspelt letters to Santa.

My dd could hardly write a simply word by the end of reception. But when she was y1 by the time after Xmas she was already able to write simple stories with simple short sentences. Now she really enjoys putting anything in writing. At the beginning of y1 she was given IEP because her reading and writing were a couple stages behind. However by the end of y1 now she is slightly ahead of her own age in both reading and writing. Celebrate!

I know dd's Reception teacher (v experienced and rated outstanding) would say, don't worry about the actual writing but do encourage any sort of play that involves fine motor skills - threading, fiddly stuff, etc etc and not just fine motor, but upper body strength (like monkey bars in the playground). More important at this age than sitting down writing - especially if it puts him off

What Elibean says.

I'd say the motivation he's developed is more important than anything else. Don't do anything that will discourage him.