When will my child start writing! Should I be worried? Let’s find out…
We succumb to a lot of
pressures created in our mind and most of us at some point are in a hurry to
adapt skills based on what we are expected to do at a later stage in life… to
explain it is like expecting a child to run before he/she learns to crawl or
walk! Or preparing the child for his/her JEE/NEET exams before 10th
board exams!
We as parents tend to do this
with the so-called “Writing skills” of
young children too. We want them to know the spellings, know the formations,
write neatly and write fast…the very reason for the trend of a “Handwriting class”
growing in the market today!
Through this blog, I would like to talk to
parents and educators on the importance and reasoning behind the right age at
which a child should start writing. I promise to keep this blog short and
crisp! Read on…
A child first needs to develop their hand and finger muscles to develop called as Gross and Fine Motor development before they are able to comfortably hold a writing tool in hand and write which is a pencil. Children will be able to hold a writing tool in hand and write only by the age of 4.5 years comfortably as the years before needs to be focused on the gross and fine motor development of their hands …let us understand this why?
An x-ray of a developed hand (around
7 years of age) compared to the hand of a 5-year-old is pretty informative.
In the images, focus not only on the size of the child’s hands which changes but the younger child has cartilage which will eventually become bone through the process of endocrinal ossification which happens after 6 years of age. This indicates that the young child should not be forced to write early but rather the focus should be on nurturing of the hand and finger muscles that will allow children to grow into their capabilities. If children are forced or imposed with a writing tool with structured writing, they will develop hatred towards it and complain of hand pain. The joy of learning is taken away too!
As
children grow and develop their grasp and fine motor skills then they move
towards strengthening their TRIPOD GRIP which is essential for writing. That
will also not happen suddenly, the child will go through the following
developmental stages:
1. Static Tripod Grasp-3.5 to
4years
2. Dynamic Tripod Grasp-4.5 to
6years
PRACTICES THAT ARE A COMPLETE NO FOR PARENTS!
· · Never hold the child’s hand while he /she is writing. It’s simple who is writing then-the child or you?
·
Never give the child a rounded pencil.
Give a 3 sided pencil to support their tripod grip.
.· Never criticize or compare your child’s work, the child then decides in his/her mind that they will never get good at it.
· Never put fancy pencil tops, it
increases the weight of the pencil making it difficult for the child to write.
So Parents please remember, do not panic, and get worried by comparing your child or giving into school pressures –“Oh my child is not writing!” Understand the development stages and let the child nurture through play before moving to structured writing activities.
Do you agree? Do comment in the comments box below.
Ms. Farida Lokhandwala
Educator/Teacher Trainer/Curriculum Developer / Zentaglist
Stay safe, Stay healthy.
How wonderful would it be if most parents of young toddlers would be aware of a child's physiology. It would then spare everyone from being a part of the so called rat race.
ReplyDeleteInformative piece Farida. :)
True
DeleteTrue
DeleteSo true Farida your blogs are very informative and helpful and wish would reach all the parents who forget that each child is special and different in his/her own way . Waiting to read yoour next blog👏👏👌👌👍
ReplyDeleteThanks dear..happy to know that
DeleteVery informative Farida. The X-rays are bang on for each parent and teacher to understand what is essential at what age.
ReplyDeleteThank you for imparting the research you do to build and nurture our young ones with positivity and creativity.
Thank you dear...please do leave your name so that I know who has commented.
DeleteI wish parents could put pressure on schools if they are doing this instead of giving in
ReplyDeleteIt's very informative Farida, very pricicely mentioned about the positive side of this situation which will help many to come out of negative view about this pandamic, n will have a better happier and a healthier way of utilaisation of this time with kids.👍
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ReplyDeleteThis blog will be quite useful to parents that they should not force child to write at young age and instead focus on developing gross and fine motor skills.
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