Learning to Write at Four Years Old

At Aaron's school (reception) they have a welcome routine where every morning they have to put their name, which they write themselves, in a box. They must choose whether to put it in school dinners or packed lunch.

Every morning Aaron's not wanted to do it. For a few occasions he allowed me to do it, with him holding my hand, so he could see the motions involved, but then in recent days/weeks he's been sulking and I always end up giving in and doing it, so that I can pop it in the box, because someone is waiting to use the dry marker.

Last Friday I decided enough is enough, so I wrote his name as hollow letters, on 6 sheets of paper on Saturday and got him to write inside my letters using a green highlighter. My words were large, so he did it without us really discussing "grip".

Come Monday morning, he sat at the desk and I reminded him "we've practised this over the weekend". He immediately stated that his name at school is much smaller. In a firm voice I said simply "it's the same principle", but I soon realised his grip did not give him the degree of control he needed to write that small.

I adjusted his grip so that not only did he have the pincer like tripod grip he needed, but also that he was holding the dry marker low enough that his hand could rest on  the desk, just how us adults write.

The result was remarkable, and the neatness he displays in his writing is commendable.

I gave birth to a perfectionist, but when he finally does what he's meant to, boy does he do a good job:

I'm back here editing this post on Thursday 2nd October as he just goes from strength to strength. So very proud of him. This is from this morning: