I think DS is starting P1 a little bit behind his peers. How can I prevent it effecting his self esteem?

[unlimiteddilutingjuice]

DS is 5 and about to start P1.
His report from nursery reads "Little Juice is at the beginning stages of mark making, preferring to learn using his whole body"
This is accurate-his drawings don't look much more developed than his 2 year old sisters. I don't think his fine motor skills are great.
I'm a bit concerned that this will hold him back when he starts learning to write and he may form an opinion of himself as "thick".
Can anyone offer me some reassurance or give me tips on how to handle it with DS if his confidence is knocked.

Children's development isn't always linear.

Your little one may not be quite ready yet to hold his pencil correctly and complete handwriting exercises, but I am quite certain that there will be areas where he is ahead of the writers- confidence, playing and sharing, blending sounds orally etc.

P1s are also marvellously egocentric and really don't take much notice of what their peers are doing!

On top of that, many P1 classes are adopting a proper play based approach and the days of desks and handwriting in P1 seem to be on the way out.

He will be fine.

Thank you Balfe: that is the exactly what I was hoping to hear
I guess I'm just a bit pfb!
It's incredible to think of him in P1. He used to fit into the palm of my hand.

I didn't know that nursery hadn't prepared Ds2 aswell as they might. Until later. He wanted to play. They didn't make him do handwriting,when he didn't want to.

He's bright enough. By year 2, he was still in the top set for maths.

Please try not to worry.

Little update:
He's a week into school now and I've had a little peek at his work.
It was an exercise where he had to trace over a wavey line, then a zigzag line, then a bumpy line.
So pretty much exactly what he needs to be practicing and perfect for his level.
I needn't have worried.

Is that what everyone in the class is doing or is it work targeted to his particular needs?

No idea!
Since its the first week I'd imagine everyone is doing the same as they will still be assessing ability.
As long as he comes home happy- I'm good with it for now.

Reminds me of the Christmas tea towels Ds2's nursery used to sell, with elaborate self portraits of each child attempted on it, and both year's my little gremlin was represented by a smudged handprint

It all seems to sort out (although his handwriting at 11 is still shocking and he still doesn't give a monkey's about it )

Michael -I remember a similar thing with my son. In fact someone else had drawn my son's self portrait for him

If it helps.. I always buy the primary tea towels and love the blobs. We were looking at one which had dds reception year. The funniest was Jack's (not real name) which was literally a scribble. He got 13 A stars at gcse and is aiming for oxbridge!!! Sadly dds was very detailed and impressive and she's just ploughed her AS levels !

It does help - thank you 😊