Will it matter that my DS is not good at drawing when he starts reception?

[Hogterm]

My DS is a summer baby so will be just 4 when he starts reception in September. He has never been interested in sitting and colouring or practicing letters so only lasts a few minutes even when I make him sit quietly for a bit to practise. He holds a pen in a sort of fist grab and struggles with copying shapes. Up to now, I was happy with just letting him enjoy things he wanted to do but I was visiting a friend the other day and her four year old can write his name and her 2 year old could colour in the lines better than my DS. My DS actually noticed and said he wasn't very good and didn't want to play colouring.

Am now really worried about school as just want him to enjoy it. Should I carry on just letting him colour or draw when he wants or should I practise with him and how? I really didn't want to be competitive parent but I don't want him feeling everyone else can do stuff he can't. I just said that everyone is good at different things and you only get good by practising lots.

He is good at numbers and construction., is good at listening and loves books. Lots of things which mean I think he will love school but I don't want this one thing (albeit a quite important thing I guess) to impact him.

Will teachers expect more when he starts? Is it normal for some children to struggle more?

So practise lots or leave it until school?

Don't put the poor boy off.
Good at listening sounds like a teachers dream child
Maybe check he can recognise his own name and leave it there.

All kids do things in their own time. I know of kids who despite colouring and would rather gouge their eyes out than do it, so I wouldn't worry. Make sure he knows what his name looks like and let the teachers do the teaching. that is what they are there for.

Don't worry. DD had no interest in picking up a pencil to do anything at all when she started school and now brings drawings home every other day
If he's got drawing things available to him at home that's good enough and he may well just surprise you and pick them up one day. It'll be fine.

Maybe spend some time doing these things together at home, not for long, five mins at a time.
My boy was the same and we holidayed with friends who had two daughters, from then on it just clicked,

Don't worry too much, try to make it a fun game rather than anything to be stressed about.

He can read his name. He recognises letters from it as we play find the letter on the way to places I. E. on car registrations, road signs etc. Again not trying to force him to learn but keep him distracted so I don't have to carry him! Any game that works. He can write his initials.

So he just needs to recognise his name not write anything?

I wouldn't force him if he doesn't enjoy them. But doing things to help him with fine motor skills would help him become more confident writer.
Any things that involves using fingers/hands, would help. So it could be colouring, or it could be building with lego or modelling with play doh.

If he likes numbers and you want him to practice pencil control, you can get "dot to dot", or "colour by numbers" books, but only if he wanted to do them , imo.

He sounds exactly like my summer born eldest son was at that age! He had no interest in colouring or writing before he started school, could recognize his name but that was about it. He was by far not the only one though so don't worry!

They all develop at different rates, it's done no harm whatsoever to my son. He's nearly 9 and about to go into year 5 and is doing great, in fact writing and English is now his strongest area!

DS is a June birthday and started reception unable to write his name. We are now at the end of reception and he is starting to do joined up writing.
I would just try to get his tripod grip going if you can.
He has also never been interested in drawing or colouring but is getting into it a little now he's 5.

My kids have been crap at art all through school. They did get frustrated with their lack of skill ( oh we hated the bastard Easter making competition )

They excelled in many other areas though. Relax and let him do stuff at his own pace.

My DS is an August born so has always been one of youngest in year. We had similar issues. He just wasn't interested in colouring etc.

There is a wide range of abilities in Reception and th teacher should take things at his pace.

Boys often have issues with fine motor skills and holding a pencil. When DS was in Year 2 or 3 we noticed his written work was really bad compared to others in his class. We were lucky as school had an occupational therapist (we weren't in uk) and he had sessions with her. She said it was common with boys and she was working with teens who had never learned to hold the pen properly. She also said that in boys certain tendons in the hand don't develop fully till they are about 7 and it makes it hard for them.

My advice would be to find ways of developing his fine motor skills. There are lots of ways to make it fun if you look it up. And games to develop hand eye co-ordination can help.

My DS is now almost 16 and his writing is certainly not neat and he holds a pen funny to my eyes but seems ok with it.

I'm 32 and still can't draw. I'm sure he'll be fine 😂

My ds is the same, will start reception this year, he also doesn't show a preference to which hand to use so on the occasion he does sit and colour/draw he starts with one hand then swaps.

MyAugust born Dd was very immature when she started school , being with children who were almost a full year older was a bit of an eye opener but by year 3 there was no noticeable difference in learning levels by age.

She's now 19 and studying accountancy at university.

They will learn at a pace that suits them and the important thing is not to turn them off learning.

It won't matter at all. DS is September born and didn't voluntarily draw anything until about Year 2!

Your DS sounds like my DS when he just turned 4, he sounds right on track. My DS is a winter baby so he'll have been 4 for almost a year when he starts reception in September, it's only over the last few months that he's shown any interest in writing/reading anything and he hates colouring in (because he's not as neat as other children I think). It's one of those things that when it clicks, it clicks - then they make loads of progress with it. The teacher will be expecting differences between winter/summer born children so won't be expecting too much from him. I'd focus more on helping him feel secure and the rest will come.

With regards to the pen holding, that is to do with tendons and will happen when he's ready. Don't force it because at this point it might be uncomfortable, then it will put him off.

Just as an aside, I've noticed a much bigger difference between the girls and boys in the class without even bringing birthdays into it. Some of the girls in DS's nursery class have little diaries which they write in (toys from home, not provided by the school). They seem incredibly articulate compared to the boys. They mostly catch up in the end and even more so because it's a national issue and there are strategies to close the gender gap.

DS loves drawing, but wasn't very good at it. He lacked the fine motor skills necessary. School got him doing more play dough and bead threading games, this really helped him.

Your boy is fine, don't force it, but maybe try some fine motor skill improvement. Just make sure he can access colouring things if he wants them.

Well my ds is in the same boat at yours and doesn't even turn 4 until 2 weeks before he starts school 😕.
He does like those activity books where you trace over letters etc so am offering lots of those at the moment.
I can't draw to save my life and I'm 39

Ds is just getting to the end if reception year and he's still rubbish at colouring and drawing Honestly the skill level in his class ranges between a few scribbles on a page to beautifully drawn pictures and paintings and it's not down to being summer or winter born. The teachers don't really have any expectations other than that they try their best - not everyone's artistic

My summer born DS is the same (nearly 4) and has no interest in drawing, colouring in etc. On the reception transition days I mentioned it his new teacher and she said loads can't and not to worry. It comes at different times for different kids. She says try to get him to be able to take himself to the toilet (he can) and hang his own coat up, shoes on etc and not to worry.

I am less worried about the drawing part but more about the being able to write part. It sounds like I can relax again. Was doing fine then had a bit of a wobble. Can't believe he is almost big enough for school

My August born DS1 has never, ever been into art - he used to just borrow other children's to show me!

His little brother would sit and draw all day, and has always loved some glue and bits to stick on things.

They're all different. DS1 loves school, he reads well above his level, he's engaged and confident and is at an appropriate level in maths/music/PE etc. - but still at 7 has very poor hand writing and goes to Occupational Therapy for it (suspected dyspraxia) - I wonder if the lack of interest in art was an early clue that he found that kind of thing hard.

BUT, it really doesn't matter in the grand scheme - we all have things we find easy and things we find hard, and the reception teachers at UK schools are uniformly excellent in my experience - completely understanding that they're taking such young kids in and giving them their first school experience, he'll be fine, and if something flags with them, they'll do something about it (hence mine being in OT)

My ds was great at writing/pencil control at the start of school, but it was only because of his circumstances. He spent a lot times on hospital bed, so colouring, doing puzzles, threading, sticking, lego, all contributed to develop his fine motor skills. But it didn't actually translate him being a good writer, as in creative writer.
As pp says, children develop at different rate. Some are good at certain things, and others at something else. No need to compare.

I'm probably going to get shot down for this but DS is the same as yours. We decided to delay his school start (legally they don't need to begin until the first term after their fifth birthday) to give him a bit more time at home.

Have a look at flexible school admissions for summer borns on Facebook, it's a fantastic resource.